Famed Brazilian singer Marília Mendonça, who gained recognition after releasing her first eponymous live album in 2016, died in a plane crash here on Friday.
According to media reports, the young star breathed her last when the small plane she was travelling in crashed in Minas Gerais state. One of her uncles, also known as the singer’s and two pilots also died in the crash, reports added.
Reports further added that the Grammy winner, 26, was scheduled to give a concert later Friday in Caratinga.
There was no immediate cause of the crash, however, authorities have launched an investigation, said local police chief Ivan Lopes.
“We still cannot say what caused the plane to crash, but there is damage that suggests that the plane collided with a (power) antenna before falling,” Lopes said.
The TV footage showed the firefighters working to remove the bodies from the plane, which crashed in a rocky area next to a waterfall.
A number of fans and fellow celebrities are devasted and have flooded Twitter with condolences and sincere prayers as they mourn Marília’s untimely demise.
Mendonça, who grabbed the Latin Grammy for best sertanejo album, was widely known in her native Brazil with around 22 million YouTube followers and more than eight million monthly listeners on Spotify.
The young singer began her career as a teenager and became a national star in 2016 with a hit live album about infidelity. She was also known as the country’s ‘Queen of Suffering’.
