'Argued to get in, staff saved me': Brazil man who missed ill-fated flight that crashed, killing 61

A Rio de Janeiro resident named Adriano Assis knows he is lucky man. After all, he escaped death as he was supposed to board the plane carrying 61 people that crashed on Friday outside Brazil's Sao Paulo, killing all on board.

The aircraft, an ATR 72-500 operated by Voepass airline, was traveling from Cascavel in southern Parana state to Sao Paulo's Guarulhos international airport when it crashed in the city of Vinhedo.

Assis narrowly missed the two-hour flight due to an airport mix-up.

He said when he reached the check-in counter at 9:40 am, there was a lack of information on take-off and nobody was at the counter to answer questions.

"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,” Assis told Brazilian news outlet TV Globo.

Subsequently when he came to know about the crash, Assis credited the airport staff and hugged the official who stopped him from boarding the flight.

“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," Assis said.

Sharing the video on X, a 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.”

The plan crash is one of the world's deadliest airline crash since January 2023, when 72 people died on board a Yeti Airlines plane in Nepal that stalled and crashed while making its landing approach. That plane also was an ATR 72, and the final report blamed pilot error.

Following the crash, the Brazilian authorities are working to piece together what exactly caused the plane crash in Sao Paulo state.