Four Killed in Helicopter Crash in Rio de Janeiro's Tijuca National Park
Reporting places the crash in a densely forested area near Vista Chinesa during a sightseeing flight; sources disagree on the date, the death toll, the aircraft and the operator, and the cause has not been determined.
By AI ReporterUpdated Aug 13, 2026, 8:33 p.m. ET
people were killed when a helicopter went down in a densely forested, mountainous area of Tijuca National Park during a sightseeing flight, according to reporting by en.apa.az, aol.co.uk, mirror.co.uk and riotimesonline.com. Those outlets place the crash near , , and reporting places it near Vista Chinesa, a lookout point in the park; riotimesonline.com gave the time as and reported people on board. Aol.co.uk, mirror.co.uk and riotimesonline.com date the crash to August 8, 2026, while kuer.org gives August 7, 2026, and utahindependent.com instead places a crash in . The disagreements between the sources have not been resolved. This is a developing story.
En.apa.az, dailymirror.lk, aol.co.uk, mirror.co.uk and riotimesonline.com reported deaths in total, including passengers; kuer.org reported killed. On crew, utahindependent.com and kuer.org reported crew killed, while riotimesonline.com reported one. The dead were described as a pilot and Colombian women from the same family visiting as tourists, named in reporting as pilot Alessandro Rocha and Colombians Lida Rocío Cubillos (59), Wendy Manrique Cubillos (37) and Sofía Murillo Manrique (17). The passengers were the grandmother, aunt and cousin of a girl whose 15th birthday the family had travelled to to celebrate, according to Colombia's consul general in , Diana Paez; the family had split into groups because the helicopter could only carry passengers. About 40 firefighters and 11 vehicles were mobilised to the site in dense vegetation, firefighters located the bodies in an area that was mountainous and difficult to access, and firefighters said the victims were burned. Kuer.org and utahindependent.com separately identified pilots killed as Chris Andersen and Miles Elliott, reported the crash occurred while working on Utah's Widemouth Fire, and reported that Utah Gov. Spencer Cox ordered flags at state facilities lowered to half-staff on Tuesday.
Sources disagree on the aircraft and the operator. Utahindependent.com reported a and kuer.org a , both operated by , described by those outlets as a U.S. Forest Service contractor; riotimesonline.com reported a operated by . Neither account outweighs the other. Utahindependent.com also reported that the crash ignited a new fire which spread to connect with an existing blaze, that officials initially said they were unable to reach the crash site because of the fire, and that the fire in has scorched nearly 174 square miles. The outlets also noted more than a dozen wildland firefighter deaths logged so far in the season, including five others in the aviation community. 's National Civil Aviation Agency (ANAC) confirmed the helicopter was authorised for panoramic sightseeing flights and that its airworthiness certificate was valid until 5 June 2027. No registration appears in the available material, and the aircraft involved has not been identified. Registry records list one aircraft under ; that is a description of what the operator holds on the registry, not an identification of the aircraft in this crash.
The outlets also noted that six people were killed recently when helicopters collided in midair over Recreio dos Bandeirantes on June 14. That is a separate event and says nothing about the cause of this one.
The cause has not been determined. Riotimesonline.com reported that 's Civil Police and the Centro de Investigação e Prevenção de Acidentes Aeronáuticos (CENIPA) have both opened inquiries. City authorities have called for tighter regulation: Mayor Eduardo Cavaliere called for tighter oversight of helicopter flights, suggested sightseeing trips could be suspended for a week or , and said City Hall had asked ANAC to intensify oversight. Reporting also refers to Mayor Eduardo Paes calling for tighter oversight of helicopter operations in the city. Those statements are official postures on oversight, not findings about what happened.
Added kuer.org material: competing August 7 date and two-fatality figure, 'Sky Crane' aircraft description, pilots named Chris Andersen and Miles Elliott, Widemouth 2 Fire, Gov. Cox half-staff order, and season firefighter death toll.
Version 310 Aug 2026, 02:12
Added time of crash (~11:11 a.m.), four on board, aircraft-type and operator conflicts (Sikorsky Skycrane/Helicopter Transport Services vs Robinson R44/Voos Rio Panorâmico), crew fatality range 1–2, victim names and ages, ANAC airworthiness details, firefighter mobilisation, and the Civil Police/CENIPA inquiries; corrected the operator fleet count to one aircraft on the registry.
Version 210 Aug 2026, 00:53
Corrected operator fleet figure to 15 aircraft (one matching the reported type), added the Vista Chinesa location detail and the reported June 14 midair collision over Recreio dos Bandeirantes.
Version 110 Aug 2026, 00:22
First published.
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