7 die in Brazilian airplane crash

    BRASILIA, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- At least seven people died on Sunday after a small Learjet airplane crashed in northern Brazil's Sao Paulo city in a residential neighborhood, Brazil's Military Police said on Sunday.

    Sao Paulo's Fire Department said three injured people including two minors and an adult were taken to hospitals in the region.

    Brazilian Military Police officials said that the aircraft lifted off at 14:10 local time (16:10 GMT) from Campo de Marte Airport, towards Rio de Janeiro city, but crashed shortly after lifting off.

    There is still lack of information on how many passengers were aboard the aircraft and how many people were in the houses affected by the airplance crash but preliminary official reports state that 12 people resided in those homes.

    Some 22 rescue units were sent to the site of the crash with over 60 rescue crew members, while traffic was blocked in the surroundings.

    This is the second aerial tragedy in 2007 in Sao Paulo, the biggest city in South America.

    On July 17, a Tam enterprise Airbus crashed against a fuel station while landing at Congo has airport leaving 199 killed.