Chinese architect Kongjian Yu dies in plane crash in the Pantanal
Considered one of the world's leading urban planners, Chinese architect Kongjian Yu died after the plane he was in crashed in a rural area of Aquidauana, in the Pantanal of Mato Grosso do Sul. The pilot and two Brazilian filmmakers who were on board also did not survive.
Yu was the creator of the "sponge cities" concept, constructions that seek to deal with drainage and flooding problems in a sustainable way. The idea is to make the city function like a sponge, absorbing, storing, filtering, and releasing rainwater naturally and gradually.
The aircraft crashed near the Barra Mansa Farm, a tourist area known for receiving visitors from Brazil and abroad and which served as a filming location for the TV Globo soap opera "Pantanal."
According to the Fire Department and the Civil Police, the plane, a 1958 Cessna 175 model, aborted its landing to avoid a herd of wild pigs on the runway and crashed about 100 meters from the runway threshold, exploding upon impact with the ground.
After the crash, all occupants were burned beyond recognition.
The victims
In addition to Kongjian Yu, the victims included filmmaker and documentarian Luiz Fernando Feres da Cunha Ferraz, who was nominated for an International Emmy for his work on "Dossiê Chapecó: O jogo por trás da tragédia (4 x48)," a documentary about the 2016 air crash that killed players and staff of the Brazilian team Chapecoense. He also worked on the production "To Win or To Win," about the Arab club Al Nassr, where Cristiano Ronaldo plays.
Rubens Crispim Jr., a director and documentarian, had been directing and filming documentaries for the exhibitions at the Pinacoteca of São Paulo since 2021.
Marcelo Pereira de Barros, the fourth victim, was the pilot and owner of the aircraft, which provided air taxi services in the Pantanal region.
According to friends of Luiz Fernando, the filmmaker and Kongjian Yu were recording a documentary about sponge cities.
Yu, a professor at Beijing University and director of the Turenscape office, was internationally recognized for his award-winning projects and consultations for more than 70 Chinese cities.
Investigation
The Department for the Suppression of Corruption and Organized Crime (Dracco), in partnership with the Fire Department, began an investigation into the causes of the accident. The Brazilian Air Force (FAB) and the Center for Investigation and Prevention of Aeronautical Accidents (CENIPA) were also called in to investigate the facts.
According to data from the National Civil Aviation Agency (ANAC), the plane was only authorized for daytime flight under visual flight rules.
The Cessna 175 does not have special instruments to fly at night or in bad weather conditions, requiring the pilot to see the route with the help of the horizon and reference points on the ground.
Furthermore, the model was not authorized for air taxi operations, which adds to the complexity of the tragedy.
This is the second air accident recorded in the Pantanal this month, highlighting the risks faced by those who fly over the region, which, in addition to natural landscapes, also has difficult-to-access terrain and unpredictable weather conditions.
The uneven terrain and difficult access to the farm, located 110km from the city on the banks of the Negro River, hampered the work of the rescue teams, who took about nine hours to remove the bodies.