The Barra do Garças air disaster was a suicide attack that occurred in Barra do Garças, Mato Grosso, Brazil, on June 1, 1980, when pilot Mauro Milhomem attempted to crash a single-engine aircraft into the Hotel Presidente owned by his mother-in-law, killing six persons and himself and wounding four others. This incident is possibly one of the first cases of suicide by pilot in Brazil.
Barra do Garças air disaster | |
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![]() An Embraer EMB-721C Sertanejo similar to the incident aircraft | |
Location | Barra do Garças, Mato Grosso, Brazil |
Date | June 1, 1980 approx. 10.00am local[1] (UTC-04:00) |
Target | Hotel Presidente |
Attack type | Attempted suicide attack, suicide by pilot |
Weapons | Single-engine aircraft |
Deaths |
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Injured | 4 |
Perpetrator | Mauro Milhomem |
Prior to the crash, Milhomem had an argument with his wife after he determined that she had been unfaithful to him; Milhomem threatened to crash a plane into the hotel owned by his wife's mother.[2]
On June 1, 1980, Milhomem, a pilot for the air taxi service Táxi Aereo Garapu, flew an Embraer EMB Sertanejo-721 single-engine airplane registered as PT-EGI with four passengers inside it to the Hotel Presidente where his wife was residing, and attempted to hit the hotel; he failed to control the aircraft and instead hit a tree, several utility poles, and ultimately a two-story building, and finally crashed into an accounting office.[3][2]
In addition to Milhomem, three people died immediately;[2] another died while being transported to Goiânia, and two more died within the two days following the crash. Four people were injured, two seriously, and were treated in a Barra do Garças hospital.[2]
Initially Aldirio Oliveira Vieira, an official of the Brazilian airport authority Infraero, said that the plane had been flying at a low altitude around the building, struck a utility pole with its right wing rupturing its gasoline tank, hit a second pole, and then crashed into an accounting office.[3] It was later determined that the pilot, Milhomem, had attempted unsuccessfully to execute a kamikaze-style attack on the hotel building which his mother-in-law owned.[2]
Milhomem's wife, Angela Milhomem, allegedly committed suicide a few days after the crash.[4]
Aviation accidents and incidents in 1980 (1980) | |
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1979 ◀ ▶ 1981 |