Two helicopters collide over Rio, killing six, including singer Oliver Tree and YouTuber Gaspi
Key takeaways
- Two helicopters flying over Rio de Janeiro collided in mid-air on Sunday morning and crashed into an urban area of the city, in an accident that left six people dead, the fire department confirmed.
- The collision occurred at around nine in the morning, local time, in the Recreio dos Bandeirantes neighborhood, in the west of the city.
- Oliver Tree, 32, the author of songs such as Miss You and Life Goes On, was on a world tour and had performed in S o Paulo in the preceding days.
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Two helicopters flying over Rio de Janeiro collided in mid-air on Sunday morning and crashed into an urban area of the city, in an accident that left six people dead, the fire department confirmed. All the victims were traveling in the aircraft. Among them were US singer Oliver Tree and Argentine You Tuber Gaspar Prim, known as Gaspi.
The collision occurred at around nine in the morning, local time, in the Recreio dos Bandeirantes neighborhood, in the west of the city. One of the helicopters came down on Avenida das Am ricas and the other struck an electric-vehicle depot, where a fire broke out that reached around twenty cars; one of the aircraft exploded on crashing. The aircraft involved were a Bell 206B, registration PP-MAC, and a second helicopter registered as PR-DJJ.
According to the preliminary identification released by the Civil Police —pending forensic confirmation— one of the helicopters was carrying Oliver Tree, Gaspi, Argentine music-video director Lucas Vignale, Brazilian music producer Lucas Brito Chaves and pilot Alexandre Souza; the other carried pilot Charles Marsillac. Oliver Tree, 32, the author of songs such as Miss You and Life Goes On, was on a world tour and had performed in S o Paulo in the preceding days. Gaspi, 23, with 2.8 million subscribers, had gained international exposure after taking part in La Velada del A o V, the creator boxing event organized by Spain's Ibai Llanos in 2025.