Sao Paulo, Aug 9: A plane with 62 people aboard crashed in a fiery wreck in a residential area of a city in Brazil's Sao Paulo state Friday, the airline said, but it was not immediately clear how many people were injured or killed.

The airline VoePass confirmed in a statement that a plane headed for Sao Paulo's international airport Guarulhos crashed with 58 passengers and 4 crew members aboard. The statement didn't say what caused the accident.

Firefighters confirmed that the plane fell in the city of Vinhedo, but did not offer more details. The firefighter corps was dispatching teams to the crash site.

Brazilian television network GloboNews showed footage of a large area on fire and smoke coming out of an apparent plane fuselage in a residential area full of houses. Additional footage on GloboNews showed a plane drifting downward vertically, spiraling as it fell.

At an event in southern Brazil, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva asked the crowd to stand and observe a minute of silence.

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Palghar (PTI): Police on Wednesday claimed to have busted a gang stealing batteries from the server rooms of mobile phone towers with the arrest of nine persons in Maharashtra's Palghar district.

As many as 24 batteries valued at Rs 12,000 were stolen from the mobile tower server room in Bhalivali village on December 5, Virar crime unit-III senior police inspector Pramod Badakh said.

The thieves had broken the lock of the tower cabin and stolen the batteries, he said.

The Mandvi police then registered an FIR under section 303(2) (theft) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).

Following various complaints of such thefts in the region, the police intensified their probe. They worked on leads, including the CCTV footage of the locations as well as technical and intelligence inputs.

They subsequently arrested nine persons, including two scrap dealers who purchased the stolen materials, the official said.

During the interrogation of the accused, it came to light that they had committed similar thefts in Vasai, Virar, Wada, Boisar and other areas in the district, he said.

So far, six such cases registered with the Mandvi, Virar, Pelhar, Naigaon and Boisar police have been detected, the official said.