How a cup of coffee saved one man from boarding doomed Brazilian passenger plane that crashed killing all 62 people on board

A passenger told how a cup of coffee saved him from the plane that crashed in Brazil, killing everyone on board.

A dramatic video shows the Voepass Airlines plane plummeting from the sky over a densely populated area before crashing near a grove of trees on Friday.

All 62 people on board (58 passengers and four crew members) have died. Some relatives are still waiting for confirmation of the fate of their loved ones.

One man, Adriano Assis, had finished his shift at the hospital and was late for the 11:56 a.m. flight from Cascavel to São Paulo.

He told Brazilian news agency G1 that he was at the check-in desk at 9:40 a.m. but no one was there.

Assis then decided to get a cup of coffee and in the meantime looked at the departures and arrivals screen to see if there was any information available about flight 2283.

But by doing so he inadvertently gave himself too little time to check in and at 10:40 one of the officers told him he was late boarding.

Assis said he begged the agent to let him fly with him on his return flight to São Paulo.

“At that point I was in a fight with him and stuff, and that was it. He saved my life, man,” he said.

“He did his job, because if he hadn’t done it, I might not have been at this interview today, sorry.”

The pilot of the ill-fated plane was confirmed today: Captain Danilo Santos Romano, 35 years old, with ten years of experience.

Mr. Romano, from Sao Paulo, worked as a pilot for more than ten years and joined Voepass Airlines in 2022, according to his LinkedIn profile.

He had more than 4,500 flying hours to his name and colleagues described him as ‘always cheerful’ and ‘willing to help’.

Mr. Romano wrote in his LinkedIn profile description: “As an ATR72 captain, I am responsible for the safety of passengers, cargo and crew, and for maintaining the airworthiness of the aircraft, to ensure a safe, efficient and economical flight.

‘I am passionate about aviation and strive to provide the best service to our customers and partners.’

The 35-year-old is also described as a fan of Palmeiras football club and an avid runner.

Mr Romano was in the cockpit when the Voepass Airlines plane spiralled over a densely populated area on Friday before crashing behind a grove of trees.

Witnesses have previously described their shock when they saw the plane ‘fall from the sky and explode’, and experts are still trying to figure out what happened.

“I almost think the pilot wanted to avoid a nearby neighborhood, which is densely populated,” Daniel de Lima, a resident of Vinhedo near the crash site, told Reuters.

On Friday, regional airline Voepass said the plane was carrying 57 passengers and four crew members, but on Saturday the company confirmed there was another missing passenger on board, bringing the death toll to 62.

According to the airline, all passengers on the plane were carrying Brazilian-issued documents.

Governor Ratinho Junior told reporters that among the passengers were doctors from Parana who were on their way to a seminar.

“These were people who were used to saving lives, and now they lost their lives under such tragic circumstances,” he said.

Daniel de Lima said he heard a loud noise on Friday before looking outside and seeing the plane flying in a horizontal spiral.

“It was spinning, but it wasn’t moving forward,” he told Reuters. “Shortly after that, it fell out of the sky and exploded.”

“When I heard the sound of the plane crashing, I looked out of my window at home and saw the moment the plane crashed,” witness Felipe Magalhaes told Reuters.

“I was terrified and didn’t know what to do, so I jumped over the wall,” he said.

The plane was en route from Cascavel to Guarulhos at an altitude of 17,000 feet when it suddenly began to descend and crashed.