Brazilian Grammy winning singer Marilia Mendonca dies in plane crash

Marilia Mendonca, one of the youngest stars of country music in Brazil, died in a plane crash on Friday (November 5).

The 26-year-old mega-popular “sertanejo” singer was killed when the small plane she was traveling in crashed in Minas Gerais state, according to firefighters.

The crash also killed the Latin Grammy-winner’s producer and one of her uncles, who worked with the singer, as well as the two pilots.

Local police chief Ivan Lopes said that the authorities have launched an investigation into this case.

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“We still cannot say what caused the plane to crash, but there is damage that suggests that the plane collided with a (power) antenna before falling,” Lopes said at a press conference.

Local TV showed footage of firefighters working to remove the bodies from the plane, which crashed in a rocky area next to a waterfall.

The accident took place in a rural area near the city of Caratinga, where the artist was scheduled to sing in a concert later on Friday.

Mendonca, who won a 2019 Latin Grammy for best sertanejo album, was very popular in her native Brazil and beyond, with 22 million followers on YouTube, and more than eight million monthly listeners on Spotify.

(With inputs from Agencies)