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- Brazil accuses 16 individuals over fatal Voepass plane crash in 2024
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Get you up to speed: Brazil formally accuses 16 people over 2024 Voepass deadly plane crash
Brazil’s federal police have formally accused 16 current and former employees of Voepass airline of actions contributing to the August 2024 plane crash that killed 62 people near Vinhedo, outside Sao Paulo. The aircraft was irregularly cleared for departure into severe icing conditions despite previous de-icing system failures, leading to the crash of an ATR 72-500 twin-engine turboprop.
Brazil’s federal police concluded a two-year investigation, identifying systemic failures and deliberate omissions that contributed to the aircraft’s clearance for departure in hazardous conditions. The National Civil Aviation Agency of Brazil (ANAC) may face additional scrutiny as further potential allegations arise following the investigation’s findings.
Brazil’s federal police have officially accused 16 individuals linked to Voepass, including owner Jose Luiz Felicio Filho, of negligence leading to the 2024 plane crash that resulted in 62 fatalities. Victims’ families, represented by lawyer Thalles Andrade, intend to seek damages from all parties deemed responsible, including potentially involving the National Civil Aviation Agency of Brazil in future legal actions.
What remains unclear — Local prosecutors have yet to determine whether to bring charges against the accused individuals and when that decision will be made.
Brazil accuses 16 individuals over fatal Voepass plane crash in 2024
News|AviationBrazil formally accuses 16 people over 2024 Voepass deadly plane crash
Official says plane was irregularly cleared for departure before crash that killed 62 people outside Sao Paulo.
Published On 7 Aug 20267 Aug 2026
Brazil’s federal police have formally accused 16 current and former employees of the Voepass airline of actions contributing to the August 2024 crash that killed all 62 people on board the plane.
Investigators on Thursday announced several acts of alleged malpractice, omission and negligence by the company.
Voepass owner and president Jose Luiz Felicio Filho was among those formally accused over the accident that took place in the city of Vinhedo, outside Sao Paulo. Local prosecutors must still decide whether he and the other accused will be charged at a date to be determined.
Aside from the owner, the police accused 15 former and present Voepass employees of endangering air traffic safety, resulting in a fatal disaster, which could put them in prison for up to 12 years. Additional charges against some of the group include the omission of technical failures from aircraft logbooks.
The accident happened when an ATR 72-500 twin-engine turboprop en route from Cascavel, in the southern state of Parana, to Guarulhos international airport plummeted 13,000 feet (3,960 metres) into the back yard of a gated condominium, killing 58 passengers and four crew members.
Investigators added that the aircraft’s data recorders showed that its de-icing system had repeatedly failed or was manually cycled on and off during 136 flights.
Federal police investigator Andre Ribeiro said the aircraft was irregularly cleared for departure into known severe icing conditions despite experiencing de-icing system failures on three prior flights that same day.
“This is a watershed in air crash disasters here,” said Ribeiro, who also suggested prosecutors should look into new potential accusations against the National Civil Aviation Agency of Brazil (ANAC).
Two-year investigation
Thalles Andrade, a lawyer for the families of the victims, said in a statement that he will seek damages “against everyone responsible, people and companies, including directors, companies involved in the operation and in ticket sales”.
“We will go for everyone who, by action or omission, contributed to this,” Andrade said.
The 16 people formally accused in the case did not make comments about the federal police move.
The federal police findings were announced in a news conference after a two-year investigation. The force concluded that deliberate omissions, improper maintenance practices, and organisational failures directly contributed to sending the aircraft into dangerous weather conditions.
Last month, a Brazilian Air Force probe confirmed that a combination of severe icing conditions, mechanical system failures and pilot distractions contributed to the incident.
October 12, 2024
6:18 am
‘Cheer up, you caught the bad guy,’ says killer Virginia McCullough as she is arrested for murdering her parents
A woman who murdered her parents “in cold blood” before hiding them in makeshift tombs for four years told officers to “cheer up, you caught the bad guy” as she was arrested in her home.
Virginia McCullough, 36, poisoned her father John McCullough, 70, with prescription medication and fatally stabbed her mother Lois McCullough, 71, shortly afterwards in 2019.
She ran up large debts on credit cards in her parents’ names and after their deaths, she continued to spend their pensions until she was finally caught in 2023.
In body-worn video footage released by police, a handcuffed – and eerily calm – McCullough told officers: “I did know that this would kind of come eventually.
“It’s proper that I serve my punishment.”
She said she had slipped something into her father’s drink then put his body under a bed on the ground floor, and put her mother’s body in an upstairs wardrobe.
McCullough, having been arrested on suspicion of double murder, told an officer: “Cheer up, at least you’ve caught the bad guy.”
She added: “I know I don’t seem 100% evil.”
At the police station, she told officers where a kitchen knife was, which she described as a “murder weapon”, and a hammer which she said “will still have blood on it”.
McCullough, of Pump Hill, Chelmsford, Essex, was sentenced to life imprisonment on Friday with a minimum term of 36 years at Chelmsford Crown Court, after she admitted to their murders between 17 and 20 June 2019 at an earlier hearing at the same court.
Chelmsford Crown Court heard how she hid their bodies in makeshift tombs at the family home in Great Baddow in Essex, then told persistent lies to cover her tracks.
The court heard she cancelled family arrangements and frequently told doctors and relatives her parents were unwell, on holiday or away on lengthy trips.
But concerns over Mr and Mrs McCullough’s welfare were raised in September 2023 by a GP at their registered practice, and Essex County Council’s safeguarding team referred these to police.
The GP had not seen the couple for some time and said Mr McCullough had failed to collect medication and attend scheduled appointments. It was found McCullough had frequently cancelled appointments, using a range of excuses to explain her father’s absence.
Police said a missing persons investigation was initially launched and McCullough lied to officers, claiming her parents were travelling and would be returning in October.
It became a murder investigation, and when officers forced entry to the house in Pump Hill on September 15 2023, McCullough confessed that her parents’ bodies were in the house and that she had killed them.
Nicola Rice, a specialist prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “McCullough callously and viciously killed both of her parents before concealing their bodies in makeshift tombs within their home address.
“She spent the next four years manipulating and lying to family members, medical staff, financial institutions, and the police, spending her parents’ money and accruing large debts in their name.”
She added: “This was a truly disturbing case, which has left behind it a trail of devastation, and I can only hope that the sentence passed today will help those who loved and cared for Lois and John begin to heal.”
To downplay the genocide, the israelis claim there’s only 20,000 people left in north Gaza, says
@MahaGaza
: the real number exceeds 400,000
Man of the right wing Nigel Farage taking more second jobs and freebie helicopter rides
Gosh he’ll soon be a true blue Tory at this rate
Or far far worse
The cost-of-living crisis is far from over, yet the government’s 50% increase to the bus fare cap is a political choice, adding hundreds to annual costs.
To address hardship & the climate crisis, the government must keep the £2 cap & make public transport accessible for all.
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November 23, 2024
8:25 am
Defense alliance NATO chief Mark Rutte has met US President-elect Donald Trump to discuss global security issues, according to a NATO spokesperson.
The meeting took place in Palm Beach, Florida.
During his first term as US president, 2017-2020, Trump pushed for European NATO countries to spend more on defense and described the alliance’s cost-sharing as unfair to the US.
Rutte took over as NATO chief from Norwegian Jens Stoltenberg in November.
Before taking office in January, Trump has nominated Pete Hegseth for the post of defense secretary, which has raised eyebrows among many allies.
Hegseth, 44, has served as an infantry captain in Iraq and Afghanistan, but has no senior military or government officer experience.
November 23, 2024
8:25 am
November 23, 2024
8:17 am
Multiple missiles were fired in an airstrike towards a densely populated part of Lebanon’s capital early on Saturday.
The huge airstrike targeted Beirut’s Basta neighbourhood, and no prior warnings were given by the Israeli military. The largely residential area was struck last month.
At least one violent explosion was heard across the city, Reuters witnesses said, and plumes of smoke could be seen. Scenes of massive destruction at the site were shared online, including a massive crater in the ground.
“Beirut, the capital, woke up to a horrific massacre, as the Israeli enemy’s air force completely destroyed an eight-story residential building with five missiles on Al-Mamoun Street in Basta,” the state-run National News Agency reported.
The health ministry put the initial death toll at four, with 23 wounded. The number is expected to climb in the coming hours as search and rescue efforts continue.
It came after a long day of Israeli airstrikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs, which have been non-stop since last week.
The cross-border fighting between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group escalated into a full-blown war in mid-September.
Israel has bombed southern Lebanon, Beirut’s southern suburbs and the eastern Beqaa region, and has sent ground troops across the border. Hezbollah has continued to fire rockets deeper into Israel.
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