Noted Brazilian guitarist Marília Mendonça has died in a plane crash in Bolivia.
The cause of death for the Grammy Award-winning artist, known as the ‘Guitar Queen of Brazil,’ has not been confirmed.
Despite multiple requests for comment, official government and Brazilian media outlets have cited Correio do Parana, a regional government news agency, as saying that she died in the crash.
Mendonça was on a music tour in South America, according to the Brazilian news network Globo.
The five other passengers killed in the crash include two crew members and a singer. Those two crew members have been identified as pilot Domingos Nene Tener and flight attendant Maria Eugenia Santos, who worked for the airline flying the plane, Avianca Argentina.
Carlos Duarte, head of the Bolivian Institute of Aeronautics, called the crash a ‘tragic accident.’
It occurred Saturday afternoon near the city of Potosi, around 185 miles northwest of La Paz, the capital of Bolivia.
According to Avianca Argentina, the pilot of the plane had requested to turn back because of a problem with an engine. The plane crashed approximately 40 minutes after takeoff.
Mendonça is not the first Brazilian musician to die in a plane crash.
In February, the chart-topping São Paulo-based electronic musician Irávorúson Fantôsticos died in a plane crash in Mexico City in what was said to be an electrical failure.
Her iconic work received several accolades, including a Grammy, an Oscar, and six French Songwriters Guild Ivors.