Summary Undetermined Crew 3 Survivors 0 (none) Survivor 0 (none) | Passengers 30 Injuries (non-fatal) 0 Date 14 May 2004 Fatalities 33 (all) Passenger count 30 | |
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Rico Linhas Aéreas Flight 4815 was a domestic scheduled passenger flight, flying from São Paulo de Olivença in northeast Brazil to Manaus, the capital of the Brazilian state of Amazonas. On 14 May 2004, the aircraft operating the flight, an Embraer EMB 120 Brasilia, crashed into the dense Amazon rainforest while on approach to Manaus. All 33 people on board were killed in the crash.
It was the worst plane accident involving an Embraer EMB 120 Brasilia and the dealiest in the airline's history, surpassing the previous crash of Rico Linhas Aéreas Flight 4823, which occurred 2 years before the crash of Flight 4815.
Incident
The flight was operated by Manaus-based regional airline Rico Linhas Aéreas. The Embraer 120ER Brasília registration PT-WRO had 30 passengers and 3 crew on board, all of them Brazilians. At the time, the weather was reportedly in good condition. As the aircraft was following the landing pattern to Manaus, the aircraft dropped off radar. Radio controller tried to restore contact with the plane but with no avail. A search and rescue team was assembled and later found scattered human remains and fragments of plane near the airport. All 33 people on board were killed in the crash. Eyewitnesses reported that they saw a fireball falling during the crash.