RIO DE JANEIRO — Brazilian authorities were on the scene Monday examining the wreckage from a deadly midair collision between two helicopters that claimed six lives the day before, near a suburb of Rio de Janeiro.
American singer Oliver Tree appeared on the passenger list submitted to aviation authorities for one of the helicopters, which came down in the parking lot of a car dealership. However, police had not yet confirmed that his body was recovered from the crash site.
Law enforcement confirmed the identities of five victims: Gaspar Prim Díaz, an Argentine content creator who went by the name Gaspi and had amassed more than 2.8 million subscribers on YouTube; fellow Argentine Lucas Vignale; and three Brazilian nationals — Lucas Brito, Charles Marsillac, and Alexandre Souza. The identity of one additional foreign victim had not yet been established.
A Rio de Janeiro police investigator, Alan Luxardo, told reporters at the crash site Monday that human error may have played a role in the collision. He said authorities were working to determine whether a pilot or an air traffic controller bore responsibility for the disaster.
Tree, who is 32 years old, had been traveling through South America and Europe as part of a world tour with scheduled stops in Argentina, Brazil, Portugal, and Spain. The day before the crash, on Saturday, the singer and comedian had posted a lighthearted video of himself playing soccer in a Brazilian neighborhood.
Fellow public figures began paying tribute to Tree on social media Sunday. Among them was Jake Paul, a promoter known for high-profile boxing matches against professional fighters, who described Tree as “one of the most kind and funny people in the world.”
Drew Binsky, a content creator recognized for having visited every country on earth, shared on Instagram that Tree had reached out to him for travel tips, since the singer shared a similar goal of visiting every nation.
“We just spoke a few days ago and I was planning to show him around Prague in three weeks,” Binsky wrote. “He has become a great friend of mine and is genuinely one of the kindest and most positive people I’ve ever met.”
Argentine streaming channel Blender also expressed grief over the loss of Gaspi in a post on X, writing: “Every one of us will miss you.”
