Helicopter which disappeared on New Year’s Eve found crashed in rainforest

The wreckage of a helicopter which disappeared on New Year’s Eve has been found in the rainforest nearly two weeks later.

All four people on board the Robinson R44 are now confirmed to have died after the wreckage was found on Friday morning.

The bodies of Luciana Rodzewics, 45, Letícia Ayumi Rodzewics Sakumoto, 20, Raphael Torres, 41, and Cassiano Tete Teodoro, 44, were recovered from the wreckage on Saturday.

A police helicopter spotted the crash site in dense rainforest in Paraibuna, Brazol, just under 7 miles from where the pilot had to make an emergency landing during the flight.

The crash site is 62 miles from the helicopter’s origin, at Campo de Marte Airport in São Paulo, and 26 miles from its destination, the island of Ilhabela.

Horrific pictures of the crash site show the helicopter was completely destroyed and the Brazilian Air Force’s accident investigation branch is still trying to figure out what caused the crash.

The helicopter was completely destroyed in the crash (Picture: Jam Press)

Luciana Rodzewics was one of the passengers on the helicopter (Picture: Jam Press)

Letícia Ayumi Rodzewics Sakumoto was only 20 when she died (Picture: Jam Press)

Pilot Cassiano Tete Teodoro had previously been banned from flying (Picture: Jam Press)

Raphael Torres also died in the crash (Picture: Jam Press)

By the time the wreckage was found, more than 135 flight hours had been spent on the search, covering a 5,000km2 area.

Three separate funerals were held for the four victims in São Paulo on Sunday.

Elisângela Gritte, Raphael’s partner, was among those present at his funeral and the helicopter trip, with Cassiano as the pilot, was supposed to be a New Year surprise for her.

However she had already made plans to spend her New Year’s Eve with her grandchildren, so instead he invited his long-term friend Luciana and her daughter Letícia.

En route, Letícia had sent her boyfriend a text telling him they’d made an emergency landing ‘in the middle of the bush’.

She’d later sent him a video showing them diverting to another destination on the mainland after giving up on Ilhabela.

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It has since emerged that Cassiano was once banned from flying for two years.

According to Anac – Brazil’s civil aviation authority – he’d evaded inspections, made fraudulent flight plans, and been involved in clandestine air transportation.

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