Rio helicopter crash kills four; consul says 3 were Colombian

Four people were killed on August 8, 2026, when a helicopter crashed in Tijuca National Park in Rio de Janeiro, firefighters said. Firefighters said the dead were the pilot and three women.

Diana Paez, Colombia's consul general in Rio de Janeiro, said the three women were Colombian tourists from the same family. She said they were part of a group of six who had traveled to Rio to celebrate a girl's 15th birthday.

Paez said the family group had split up because the helicopter could carry only three passengers. She said the girl's grandmother, aunt and cousin died in the crash, while the girl was due to take a later flight with her father and his partner.

The helicopter went down near Vista Chinesa, a high-altitude viewpoint in the forested park. Firefighters released images showing the smoking wreckage on a steep, hard-to-reach hillside.

Paez said the Colombian consulate supported Brazilian authorities in identifying the victims because of the condition of the bodies.

Rio Mayor Eduardo Cavaliere said on X that he had asked Brazil's National Civil Aviation Agency to immediately step up monitoring of helicopter flights. Helicopter sightseeing rides are a popular tourist attraction in Rio de Janeiro. A separate helicopter collision over Rio in June killed six people.