Gol Transportes Aéreos, the Brazilian carrier, has agreed to pay $1.3 million to an Amazon tribe as compensation for damages for a 2006 plane crash the tribe says cursed the land.
The airline agreed to pay the funds as "material and spiritual compensation" for the September 2006 crash in which a GOL 737 collided in mid-air with an Embraer Legacy 600 private plane over the Amazon jungle in Brazil's state of Mato Grosso. The Gol's plane crashed in the middle of the Caiapó reservation, killing all 154 people aboard, while the smaller private plane managed to fly to a nearby airport and land safely. Investigations into the crash agreed that the aircraft were put on a collision course by the air traffic controllers in Brazil. The Caiapó refused to go back to crash site and were relocated to another part of the reserve.