Two helicopters collided in mid-air over the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro on Sunday morning, killing all six people on board. American singer Oliver Tree, 32, and Argentine YouTuber Gaspar Prim, known online as Gaspi, 23, were among the dead.
The collision occurred at around 09:00 local time (14:00 CEST) above the Recreio dos Bandeirantes neighbourhood in the city’s southwest. One of the aircraft was carrying five people; the other had only its pilot. There were no survivors.
Rio de Janeiro’s Civil Police identified the victims as Tree, passengers Lucas Brito Chaves and Lucas Vignale, Argentine content creator Gaspar Prim, and the two pilots, Alexandre Souza and Charles Marsillac.
Fire service spokesperson Fábio Contreras told Brazilian news outlet G1 that five bodies were recovered from inside one helicopter and a sixth was found near the second aircraft.
One of the helicopters came down on land rented by BYD, the Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer, setting fire to around 20 cars parked on the site. The second aircraft crashed roughly 100 metres away and did not catch fire. Debris was scattered tens of metres from both impact sites, striking nearby residential and office buildings.
Around 45 firefighters and 15 vehicles were deployed to the scene. The blaze was brought under control within approximately an hour.
Rio de Janeiro Mayor Eduardo Cavaliere confirmed there were foreign nationals on board one of the aircraft. Brazil’s Air Force (FAB) said investigators from the Aeronautical Accident Investigation and Prevention Centre (Cenipa) had been deployed to open a formal inquiry.
Who was Oliver Tree?
Born Oliver Tree Nickell on 29 June 1993 in Santa Cruz, California, the singer was widely recognised for his bowl haircut, oversized clothing and genre-blending alt-pop sound. He rose to prominence with the song “When I’m Down” and went on to release hits including “Life Goes On”, “Miss You” and “Alien Boy”. His debut album, Ugly Is Beautiful, topped two Billboard charts.
Tree had been in Brazil as part of his 30-country world tour, having performed in São Paulo on 6 June. His next scheduled date was in Lisbon on 1 July.
Who was Gaspi?
Gaspar Prim, 23, was an Argentine content creator with around 2.8 million YouTube subscribers. Known for street interviews and prank-style comedy, he had built a substantial following across Latin America and Spain.