Seven killed in small plane crash in Sao Paulo state of Brazil

SAO PAULO:  Seven people have aboard died when a private plane crashed in a wooded area of Sao Paulo state, according to Brazilian authorities said.

Killed in the crash were Celso Silveira Mello Filho, a shareholder in energy company Cosan SA, his wife and their three children, along with the pilot and co-pilot, the firm said in a statement.

Celso was the brother of billionaire Rubens Ometto Silveira Mello, the chairman of Cosan, a major sugarcane grower and ethanol producer that is a partner with Royal Dutch Shell in the joint venture Raizen SA.

The aircraft, a Beechcraft King Air 360 turboprop, crashed at around 9:00 am shortly after taking off. Images captured by security cameras showed the plane burst into flames as it made an impact near a university campus in the city of Piracicaba, the hometown of the Silveira Mello family.