Star dies in chopper crash ahead of Australian tour dates
A US singer and comedian is listed as a passenger on a helicopter that crashed in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro, killing everyone on board.
US singer and comedian Oliver Tree is believed to be among six people who died when two helicopters collided over Rio de Janeiro, crashing in the city’s western zone.
Rio de Janeiro’s Military Fire Department said one of the helicopters crashed on Sunday (local time) into the car park of a vehicle dealership.
The impact ignited an intense blaze among about 20 parked electric vehicles. Local fire crews managed to extinguish it.
Officials said an investigation had begun to determine the cause of the collision.
Police said 32-year-old Tree was on the list of passengers handed to aviation authorities.
You might like
CNN Brazil reported the other victims were passengers Lucas Vignale, Gaspar Prim – also known as Argentinian YouTuber Gaspi – Lucas Brito Chaves, and pilots Alexandre Souza and Charles Marsillac.
The bodies are had yet to be formally identified.
Recognisable by his signature bowl cut, Tree – whose real name is Oliver Tree Nickell – was known for his songs Life Goes On and When I’m Down.
The 32-year-old has more than 11 million monthly listeners on Spotify, with his top songs listened to more than 700 million times. He is also a big TikTok star, with 15.4 million followers on the platform.
Stay informed, daily
The helicopters crashed into the car park of a vehicle dealership. Photo: AAP
Tree released his fourth studio album, Love You Madly, Hate You Badly in April.
He was in South America for his The World’s First World Tour. He had performed in São Paulo on June 6 and was scheduled to pick up his tour in Lisbon, Portugal, July 13, before stops in China, Japan, Antarctica, New Zealand, South Africa and – in October – Australia.
Tree performed in Buenos Aires on June 4, and published a video on his Instagram on Saturday of him playing soccer in a Brazilian neighbourhood. That post has become a digital memorial, flooded with expressions of disbelief from fans and others in the music industry.
YouTuber KSI also paid an emotional tribute to “legend” Tree, with whom he collaborated on the song Voices.
Gaspi had more than 2.8 million followers on YouTube and was 23.
“Thanks for your art, your magic and your sensibility, every one of us will miss you,” Blender said on its X account.
Fernandes de Freitas, a tyre repair worker, said he saw one of the helicopters in flames following the midair collision. He also saw one passenger jumped out of the other aircraft before it hit the ground.
“It was terrifying, absolutely horrifying,” De Freitas said.
-with AAP
Want to see more stories from InDaily SA in your Google search results?
- Click here to set InDaily SA as a preferred source.
- Tick the box next to "InDaily SA". That's it.
