RIO DE JANEIRO — Two helicopters collided in mid-air over the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro on Sunday morning, killing all six people on board. US singer Oliver Tree, 32, and Argentine YouTuber Gaspar Prim, known online as Gaspi, 23, were among the dead.
Rio de Janeiro’s Military Fire Department said that one of the helicopters crashed on the parking lot of a car dealership, where several electric vehicles were parked, igniting a fire that was extinguished.
The collision occurred at around 09:00 local time (14:00 CEST) above the Recreio dos Bandeirantes neighborhood in the city’s southwest. One of the aircraft was carrying five people; the other had only its pilot.
Officials said an investigation is underway to determine the cause of the collision.
Rio de Janeiro’s Civil Police identified the victims as Tree, passengers Lucas Brito Chaves and Lucas Vignale, Argentine content creator Gaspar Prim, and the two pilots, Alexandre Souza and Charles Marsillac.
Police said that American singer and comedian Oliver Tree was on the list of passengers handed to aviation authorities, but have not been able to identify the bodies of those killed in the crash.
Tree performed in Buenos Aires, Argentina on June 4, and published a video on his Instagram Saturday where he is playing soccer in a Brazilian neighborhood.
Argentine streaming channel Blender said that content creator Gaspar Prim Díaz — also known as Gaspi — was in one of the helicopters.
Gaspi had more than 2.8 million followers on YouTube and was 23.
“Thanks for your art, your magic and your sensibility, every one of us will miss you,” Blender said on its X account.
Fernandes de Freitas, a tire repair worker, said he saw one of the helicopters in flames following the midair collision, and noticed that one of the passengers jumped out of the other aircraft, before it hit the ground.
“It was terrifying, absolutely horrifying,” De Freitas said.
Fire service spokesperson Fábio Contreras told Brazilian news outlet G1 that five bodies were recovered from inside one helicopter and a sixth was found near the second aircraft.
One of the helicopters came down on land rented by BYD, the Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer, setting fire to around 20 cars parked on the site. The second aircraft crashed roughly 100 meters away and did not catch fire. Debris was scattered tens of metres from both impact sites, striking nearby residential and office buildings.
Around 45 firefighters and 15 vehicles were deployed to the scene. The blaze was brought under control within approximately an hour.
Rio de Janeiro Mayor Eduardo Cavaliere confirmed there were foreign nationals on board one of the aircraft. Brazil’s Air Force (FAB) said investigators from the Aeronautical Accident Investigation and Prevention Center (Cenipa) had been deployed to open a formal inquiry.
Born Oliver Tree Nickell on 29 June 1993 in Santa Cruz, California, the singer was widely recognised for his bowl haircut, oversized clothing and genre-blending alt-pop sound. He rose to prominence with the song “When I’m Down” and went on to release hits including “Life Goes On”, “Miss You” and “Alien Boy”. His debut album, Ugly Is Beautiful, topped two Billboard charts.
Tree had been in Brazil as part of his 30-country world tour, having performed in São Paulo on 6 June. His next scheduled date was in Lisbon on 1 July.
Source: Saudi Gazette