Four people have been killed in a helicopter crash in Rio de Janeiro, fire officials said, with Brazilian media reporting three of the victims were Colombian tourists.
The helicopter today went down in Tijuca National Park, a mountainside forest with very dense vegetation.
Firefighters confirmed the pilot and three women
died in the crash, and released images showing the smoking remains of the aircraft on a steep, hard-to-reach hillside.
A police source told AFP the victims had yet to be officially identified, but local media reported the passengers were Colombian women, with news site G1 reporting they were members of the same family.
Diana Paez, the Consul General of Colombia in Rio de Janeiro, told AFP the three women were part of a family group who had travelled to the Brazilian city to celebrate a girl’s 15th birthday. The group of six had split up because the helicopter could only take three passengers.
The birthday girl’s grandmother, aunt and cousin died in the crash, and she was supposed to take a second flight later on, with her father and his partner, Paez said.
The consulate provided support to Brazilian authorities in identifying the victims, a difficult task because of the condition of the bodies.
The aircraft went down near Vista Chinesa, a replica of a Chinese pagoda known for its high-altitude vantage point, with views of Rio from the heart of the forest.
The monument appeared in the 2011 animated film Rio.
In June, two helicopters collided over Rio and left six people dead, including American singer Oliver Tree and Argentine YouTuber Gaspar Prim.
Helicopter rides are a popular attraction for tourists who want to see Rio de Janeiro’s famed sights and the natural splendour of the seaside metropolis.
Rio’s Mayor Eduardo Cavaliere posted to X that he has asked Brazil’s National Civil Aviation Agency to immediately step up monitoring to ensure the safety of helicopter flights.