More than a dozen Brazilian relatives of Marília Mendonça mourn after the news of her death
More than a dozen Brazilian relatives of singer Marília Mendonça have gathered at her hometown, colliding in silence as they hear the news of her death.
“It was better for them to be together than for them to keep crying apart,” said Mendonça’s cousin, Flavio; many members of her family were still too traumatised to talk.
Mendonça’s death was confirmed in a terse tweet from Brazil’s civil aviation authority. It described her death in an air disaster in the south-eastern town of São Simão as “very unfortunate”.
The singer, who often wore white and said “white, I dance,” was in her A-34 Mir plane en route to a concerts in Perpignan in southern France at the time of the crash on Monday evening. The plane is reported to have “lost engine power”. A meteorological crew was scheduled to watch the flight to avoid any obstacle.
As many as 10 people are believed to have died, including several Perpignan City singers and a powerful Brazilian band, Lucha Luiza. Reports suggest several survivors are in hospital.