Plane carrying football players from Brazil crashes in Colombia, killing 76: Officials

Colombia has killed 76 people, the vast majority of the 81 passengers and crew who were on board the plane, the Colombian police said early on Tuesday (Nov 29).

The plane was carrying players, coaches and staff from the Brazilian soccer team Chapecoense, as well as journalists set to covering the team’s match in the Sudamericana final, South America’s equivalent of the Europa League. 

Poor weather conditions initially made the crash site accessible only by road, airport authorities at Medellin, where the charter plane was scheduled to land, said on Twitter.
   
The airport later said rescue operations had been suspended because of heavy rain in the area.

Alfredo Bocanegra, the head of Colombia’s aviation authority, earlier told journalists at the airport that several people had been rescued. A hospital in La Ceja tweeted it was treating a survivor.

The Chapecoense team was among the 72 passengers and nine crew on board the charter aircraft when it crashed around 10:15pm on Monday.

Photos of wreckage were tweeted by local media in Colombia, while Brazilian news organizations were reporting 21 journalists had also been aboard.

Flight tracking service Flightradar24 said on Twitter the last tracking signal from flight 2933 had been received when it was at about 30km from its destination, which sits at an altitude of 2km.

The Avro RJ85 was produced by a company that is now part of UK’s BAE Systems. 

“Tonight it was reported that a plane coming from Viru Viru airport in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, which should have landed at Jose Maria Cordova airport, had gone off course,” a Colombian rescue official, Mauricio Parodi, told reporters.

Chapecoense had been due to face Atletico Nacional of Medellin in the first leg of Wednesday’s Sudamericana final, South America’s equivalent of the Europa League.

The club said in a statement that it would not be making any official comments until it had more information from Colombian authorities.

It was the first time the small club from Chapeco had reached the final of a major South American club competition but they were underdogs against a club going for a rare double after winning the Copa Libertadores in July.

Chapecoense were the 21st biggest club in Brazil in terms of revenue, bringing in 46 million reais (S$19 million) in 2015, according to an annual rich list compiled by Brazilian bank Itau BBA.

The South American football federation suspended all games and other activities following the crash.