RIO DE JANEIRO – American singer and comedian Oliver Tree was among six people killed when two helicopters collided mid-air over Rio de Janeiro on Sunday morning before crashing in the city’s western zone, according to Brazilian authorities and international media reports.
The collision occurred above the Recreio dos Bandeirantes neighbourhood, a coastal district in western Rio. According to the Associated Press, both helicopters fell to the ground after the impact, with one aircraft crashing into the parking lot of a car dealership, igniting a fire among several parked electric vehicles.
Firefighters later extinguished the blaze.Authorities said all six people aboard the two aircraft died in the crash. The Rio de Janeiro Civil Police and Brazil’s aviation authorities have launched investigations to establish what caused the collision.Initial reports from the Associated Press indicated that Oliver Tree’s name appeared on a passenger manifest submitted to aviation authorities, although forensic teams were still working to formally identify the victims because the bodies were badly burned in the crash. Later reports from Rio de Janeiro’s Civil Police identified Tree among the deceased.Tree, 32, was widely known for hit songs including “Life Goes On”, “Miss You” and “Alien Boy”.
According to media reports, he had recently been performing in South America as part of an international tour. He performed in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on June 4 and posted a video on Instagram on Saturday showing himself playing football in a Brazilian neighbourhood.Also among those killed was Argentine content creator Gaspar Prim Díaz, popularly known as Gaspi, who had amassed more than 2.8 million subscribers on YouTube. Argentine streaming platform Blender, with which he was associated, paid tribute to the 23-year-old online personality, saying: “Thanks for your art, your magic and your sensibility.”Witness Fernandes de Freitas told the Associated Press he saw one of the helicopters engulfed in flames after the collision.
He said he also saw what appeared to be a passenger jumping from one of the aircraft moments before it struck the ground.”It was terrifying, absolutely horrifying,” De Freitas said.Brazil’s Air Force and civil aviation investigators are examining flight records, maintenance documentation and other evidence as they seek to determine the circumstances that led to the deadly mid-air collision. Officials have not yet indicated whether mechanical failure, pilot error or other factors may have contributed to the crash.
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