CNN —
At least two people were killed Friday after a small plane crashed onto a busy road and collided with a bus in São Paulo, southern Brazil, leaving charred aircraft parts strewn along the highway.
The crash took place around 7:20 a.m. local time (5:20 a.m. ET) along Marquês de São Vicente in the Barra Funda neighborhood, CNN affiliate CNN Brasil reported.
Two people on the aircraft were burned to death, according to military police. Six other people were injured, including a motorcyclist and a woman on the bus who were both hit by flying debris.
It is not known if the two people who died were crew members or passengers, a spokesman for the fire department of the military police in São Paulo, Captain André Elias Santos, later told CNN.
Dramatic video of the deadly incident showed the small aircraft crashing into the busy road in São Paulo. The aircraft skidded along the highway, narrowly missing a long queue of morning traffic, and was followed by a thick plume of smoke.
Survivors were taken to the nearby Santa Casa de Misericordia Hospital and the Upa Santana Hospital, according to Santos.
Authorities have opened an investigation into the cause of the collision.
Marquês de São Vicente is a key street in São Paulo, lined with shops, offices and public transport stations. Residents also use the avenue to skip traffic on the parallel Marginal Tietê during the morning rush hour, when the crash likely occurred.
Footage from the aftermath on Friday showed black clouds of smoke and bright orange flames unfurling over the highway.
The small twin-engine King Air plane – which was en route to Porto Alegre in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul – took off from Campo de Marte Airport on Friday morning, but the control tower lost contact with the aircraft minutes before the crash.
According to the Associated Press, the plane smashed into the road less than 3 miles (5 kilometers) from where it took off.
One emergency crew official recalled “desperate people” scrambling to leave the bus on Marquês de São Vicente after it was hit by the plane.
“As we approached, we saw a lot of smoke,” Alexandre Lima Marques, a member of the Civil Guard, told CNN Brasil. “We could see the plane on fire, desperate people getting off the bus. They were very scared and in shock.”
In total, 14 fire department vehicles and 38 firefighters were involved in the rescue operation, a spokesperson for the military police in São Paulo, Olivia Perrone Cazo, told CNN. Emergency crews, including firefighters and traffic employees, were deployed to help rescue victims, São Paulo mayor, Ricardo Nunes, said earlier.
Nunes expressed his “regret” over the fatal crash, in a post on X. “We are providing all the support structures to help the victims,” he said.
CNN’s Juliana Faddul and Julia Vargas Jones contributed reporting.