Brazilian Singer Marilia Mendonca Dies in Plane Crash

SAO PAULO – Brazilian country singer Marilia Mendonca, 26, was killed on Friday along with her manager and aide when a small passenger airplane they were traveling in crashed in the state of Minas Gerais.

Mendonca's representative said in a statement that her producer, Henrique Ribeiro, aide Abicieli Silveira Dias Filho along with both the pilot and co-pilot of the plane were all killed in the crash.

Mendonca became an icon of the Brazilian country music style "sertanejo," winning a 2019 Latin Grammy for an album in that category. She had posted on social media a brief video where she boarded the plane on Friday.

The airplane had departed from the midwestern city of Goiania as it headed to Caratinga, where the music artist had a concert scheduled for Friday, news website G1 reported.

The cause of the crash was under investigation, but state-run power company Cemig said in a statement that the craft had collided with an electricity distribution line owned by the company before crashing down on the ground.