The restaurant was shut that Friday. That is why four deaths did not become more than ten.
At just after 10.30 a.m. on April 3, a Piper Malibu climbed out of Capão da Canoa Airport in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, and came down on the Dom Inácio restaurant moments later. Everyone on board died. Video of the crash shows a man on foot running for his life as the aircraft fell, and a couple sprinting clear. Flames shot from the roof of the building and a thick black plume rose over the town.
Who was on the plane
Brazilian outlet G1 named the dead as businesspeople Déborah Belanda Ortolani and Luis Antonio Ortolani, along with pilots Nelio Maria Batista Pessanha and Renan Eduardo Saes. The Mirror reported that Luis and Deborah Ortolani had triplets from a previous relationship. G1 said the single-engine plane left Itápolis in São Paulo, stopped to refuel at Forquilhinha airport in Santa Catarina, then flew on to Capão da Canoa to collect the two businessmen. It was heading back toward the interior of São Paulo state when it crashed.
Other reports described the aircraft as a Piper JetPROP DLX, a six-seater built in 1999 and owned by Jetspeed Holding Ltda.
What witnesses saw
Lorry driver Silvio Silva de Jesus watched it happen. “It climbed but didn’t manage to climb fully and seemed to lose power,” he told Brazilian media. “There was a noise coming from the engine. It almost hit the office, then a pole, got caught on the pole and went down nose-first before the explosion.”
Preliminary reports say the plane struck a pole near the end of the runway.
A closed restaurant
Owner Douglas Roos had decided two days earlier not to open for Good Friday lunch because he wanted to carry out small renovations. “The whole team was supposed to be working,” he said. “It would have been my family and six or seven others. More than ten people could have been inside.”
A shop next door was closed as well. Civil Defence spokesman Sabrina Rimas said neighbours were evacuated at once and left their homes without injuries. Firefighters arrived soon after, and the Military Brigade secured the area. Power was cut after overhead cables were damaged.
Governor Eduardo Leite wrote on X that he had followed the response from the first moments with the security forces. In a statement he offered solidarity to the families of the victims and the community. Authorities are still investigating.
Sources
- Horror footage shows plane crash into restaurant as four killed in fireball
- Plane Crashes Into Brazilian Restaurant, Killing Four as Massive Fireball Erupts
