Henrique Cunha dos Santos, 41, stunningly survived with 90% burns to his body after leaping from a burning helicopter crash which killed two people in Caruaru, Brazil
Brazil: Man survives after jumping from a burning helicopter
A businessman has miraculously survived after jumping from a burning helicopter crash and suffering 90% burns to his body.
Henrique Cunha dos Santos escaped seconds before the aircraft smashed into the ground on Monday – and terrifying footage shows the moment when the chopper nose-dived and caught fire before impact. A second clip, filmed by a person on the ground as he ran towards the burning wreckage, shows a crowd of people rushing towards a topless, visibly burnt man as the crashed helicopter gives off thick, black smoke.
Two pilots died in the impact, but 41-year-old passenger landed in some bushes after free-falling about 10 metres (33ft). He lost half of his body’s fluids as well as suffering intense burns, according to his family. He remained conscious as he was rushed from the scene in Caruaru, Brazil, to a local hospital, where he was sedated and put on breathing support.
Pilots Raildo de Oliveira Rodrigues, 40, and Andr Luiz Gomes Ferreira, 45, died in the crash, according to local reports. Records from Brazil’s National Civil Aviation Agency show that the helicopter had been “denied authorisation for air taxi operations”.
Its airworthiness certificate had allegedly been terminated, though it had undergone maintenance shortly before the flight, according to local media. Dos Santos is reportedly battling pneumonia from smoke inhalation and is on a “cocktail” of antibiotics due to infection from the burns. He was taken in for surgery and was due to undergo another operation to remove some burnt tissue.
Dos Santos is originally from the coastal city of Recife, but lives in Bonito, Brazil, not far from the crash site, where he works as a cattle and pig farmer. He also runs an exotic pet web shop, according to local media. The crash is under investigation.
Last month, 62 people travelling a commercial Voepass flight from Cascavel to São Paulo in Brazil died in a horrific plane crash. Footage taken at the time of the crash appeared to show the moment the plane stalled in the air before it plummeted to the ground, exploding into a huge fireball visible for miles around. It crashed into a gated community, though no one on the ground was injured. One witness told reporters: “I thought it was going to fall in our yard. It was scary, but thank God there were no victims among the locals. It seems the 62 people inside the plane were the real victims, though.”
