American singer Nickel Oliver Tree, 32, and five other victims were in the two helicopters that collided and exploded this Sunday morning (14) in Rio de Janeiro. Tree had 2.3 million followers on Instagram and had been in Brazil since the beginning of the month for a show that took place in São Paulo on June 6th.
The aircraft crashed into the yard of a dealership on Avenida das Américas, near Recreio dos Bandeirantes, west of Rio de Janeiro. According to information from the Military Fire Department of the State of Rio de Janeiro (CBMERJ), the record is that six victims died, all aircraft occupants.
Witnesses also reported explosions at the scene after the accident. Around 20 cars caught fire, but the fire was controlled. According to information released by the Brazilian Air Force (FAB), the aircraft have registration plates PP-MAC and PR-DJJ.
The 6 victims are:
PP-MAC helicopter
- Pilot: Alexandre Souza
- Passenger: Lucas Brito Chaves – known as Lucas Frota, was a Brazilian music producer
- Passenger: Nickel Oliver Tree – North American singer
- Passenger: Lucas Vignale – Argentine audiovisual director
- Passenger: Gaspar Prim – Argentine YouTuber
Helicoptero PR-DJJ
- Pilot: Charles Marsillac
According to information from the mayor of Rio de Janeiro, Eduardo Cavaliere (PSD), pilots Alexandre Souza and Charles Marsillac were experienced professionals and worked on training other aviators. “A tragedy. A fatality. Something absolutely out of the ordinary, a collision between two helicopters. Two experienced pilots who were also instructors for other pilots”, declared.
The Argentine Gaspar Prim, known as Gaspi, was a YouTuber with approximately 2.8 million subscribers on his YouTube channel. He was known for his provocative humor and produced videos of spontaneous approaches to strangers on the streets of Buenos Aires, marked by the greeting “buenass”.
