Small plane crashes in Brazil killing seven

This image shows a picture of a crashed plane. — AFP/File 

Brazilian authorities said Sunday at least seven people were killed in a small plane crash that is said to have broken up in midair in the Minas Gerais state with firefighters responding to the site of the incident. 

Firefighters said that they have "found seven dead victims [who were] on board the aircraft," the department said in a statement. 

Earlier it announced that three bodies were found from the crash site.

Images captured by the locals and uploaded on social media show the wreckage of the plane shortly after falling on the side of a hill covered with grass and trees.

This plane crash comes as in September last year, 14 people were killed during a small plane crash in Amazon.

Amazon state Governor Wilson Lima had wrote on his social media post that twelve passengers and two crew were killed in the accident, that occurred in the northern town of Barcelos — a tourist destination.

The plane was an 18-passenger EMB-110, a twin-engine turboprop manufactured by Brazilian aircraft maker Embraer, reported a news site G1.

It had been travelling from the state capital, Manaus, to Barcelos, about a 90-minute flight.

Located on the Rio Negro, an Amazon tributary, it is bordered by several national parks and other protected areas.

News site UOL said at that time that the passengers were Brazilians travelling to the region for sport fishing, citing state security secretary Vinicius Almeida.

Earlier the same year, an aviation incident took place in the dense forests of the Amazon which killed at least three people including a mother of surviving children, who struggled to be alive in the forest for more than a month.

The plane — a Cessna 206 — was carrying seven people on a route between Araracuara, in Amazonas province, and San Jose del Guaviare, a city in Guaviare province, when it issued a Mayday alert due to engine failure in the early hours of May 1.

Tragically, three adults, including the pilot and the children's mother Magdalena Mucutuy, died as a result of the crash and their bodies were found inside the plane.

The four siblings, aged 13, 9, and 4, as well as a now 12-month-old baby, survived the impact.

An extensive search and rescue operation involving soldiers and local residents was launched in response to their disappearance. The survivors were finally rescued in July.