The Barra do Garças air disaster was a
suicide attack
A suicide attack is any violent Strike (attack), attack, usually entailing the attacker detonating an explosive, where the attacker has suicide, accepted their own death as a direct result of the attacking method used. Suicide attacks have oc ...
that occurred in
Barra do Garças
Barra do Garças is a city with a population of 61,135 located in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso, around far from the capital city of Cuiabá. It was founded on 13 June 1924, but it became political independent just on 15 September 1948. Nowa ...
,
Mato Grosso
Mato Grosso ( – lit. "Thick Bush") is one of the states of Brazil, the third largest by area, located in the Central-West region. The state has 1.66% of the Brazilian population and is responsible for 1.9% of the Brazilian GDP.
Neighboring ...
, 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.
Background
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.
[Morrem feridos no acidente](_blank)
'' Folha de S.Paulo'' (June 5, 1980)
Crash
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.
[Cinco mortos no choque do "Sertanejo"](_blank)
Folha de S.Paulo (June 3, 1980)
In addition to Milhomem, three people died immediately;
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.
Aftermath
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.
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.
Milhomem's wife, Angela Milhomem, allegedly committed suicide a few days after the crash.
Mulher se mata depois do marido se suicidar
''Tribuna da Imprensa'' (June 6, 1980)
See also
* Connellan air disaster
* Suicide by pilot
*Kamikaze attack
, officially , were a part of the Japanese Special Attack Units of military aviators who flew suicide attacks for the Empire of Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of World War II, intending to ...
* List of rampage killers#Vehicular homicide
References
External links
Acidentes ocorrem mais com aparelhos pequenos
'' Folha de S.Paulo'' (May 26, 1982)
{{Aviation accidents and incidents in Brazil
1980 in Brazil
Aviation accidents and incidents in 1980
Airliner accidents and incidents involving deliberate crashes
1980 murders in Brazil
June 1980 events in South America
Mass murder in 1980
Murder–suicides in South America
Crime in Brazil