12 killed in plane crash in Amazon

BRASILIA Twelve people including a baby died Sunday in a small plane crash in the Brazilian Amazon, officials said.

The plane, a single engine Cessna Caravan, came down near the airport of Rio Branco shortly after takeoff, the government of the northwestern state of Acre said in a statement.

Ten passengers — nine adults and an infant — as well as the pilot and co-pilot all died at the scene, it said.

According to local press reports, the plane erupted in flames on impact, causing a forest fire in a remote area near Brazil’s border with Peru and Bolivia.

Many of the passengers were returning to the neighboring Amazonas state after receiving medical care, media said.

Fourteen people were killed in September when a plane crashed while trying to land during a storm in the Amazonas town of Barcelos.

And in June, four Indigenous children survived a plane crash in the Colombian Amazon, then managed to stay alive for 40 days in the jungle before being rescued in a massive search.