Adriano Assis, of Rio de Janeiro, narrowly escaped death when he was denied entry to a passenger plane that later crashed, killing all 61 people on board.
Brazil’s Voepass Airlines recently made headlines after one of its flights crashed into a residential area in Vinhedo.
The unfortunate accident claimed the lives of all 61 people on board, including 57 passengers and 4 crew members. Now, a Rio de Janeiro resident named Adriano Assis has revealed that he was supposed to be on the flight that met with the accident but missed it due to a mixup at the airport.
Assis narrowly missed the disaster as he arrived late at the airport after completing his shift at a local hospital. Speaking with Brazilian news outlet TV Globo, the man said he reached the check-in counter at 9:40 am but missed the two-hour flight from Cascavel to Guarulhos due to an airport mix-up.
So when he came to know about the crash, Assis credited the airport staff and hugged the official who stopped him from boarding the flight. Assis explained, “I got here at 9:40, the gate was closed, but the flight was leaving. I was working at the Toledo Regional Hospital. When I arrived, I waited to see if they’d opened, normally there’s always someone there at the counter, but there was no one. I stayed upstairs, had my coffee and waited. The microphone didn’t say anything, the boards didn’t say anything about the flight either. When I came down it was half past ten, there was a huge queue here.”
“I waited and when it got to about 10:41, the guy said I wasn’t going to get on. At that point, I argued with him and so on, and that was it. He saved my life. I hug him because he’s done his job. If he hadn’t done his job, maybe I wouldn’t be doing this interview today,” Adriano Assis added.
Reflecting on the incident, Assis acknowledged his initial outburst. The man who had once been the target of his anger was now his saviour.
“I spoke out of anger, but this chap, I don’t even know his name, he really saved my life,” he said.
Videos filmed by onlookers show the Voepass ATR 72 turboprop spinning out of control before crashing into a gated community in Vinhedo, about 80 kilometres northwest of Sao Paulo. While everyone on board was killed, authorities said there were no casualties on the ground.
The crash was the deadliest airline accident in Brazil since January 2023, when a Yeti Airlines plane crashed in Nepal, killing 72 people.
Sharing the video, an X user wrote, “This man wasn’t allowed to board the plane that just crashed in Vinhedo in Sao Paulo, Brazil because he was LATE. He argued with the man at the boarding gate, but ended up hugging him after hearing the plane had crashed. This is unbelievable.”
Peoplesmind
