A Charter Plane Carrying 81 Passengers: Brazilian Soccer Team Crashed

A charter plane carrying 81 people, Brazilian soccer team crashed. The team was heading for a championship match, crashed en route to Medellín‘s airport in Colombia Monday night, according to authorities. Six passengers survived and the rest were killed, Colombia’s aviation authority confirmed Tuesday morning. It was uncertain whether that was a final count, however, as the figures had fluctuated during the night.

General José Acevedo, commander of Medellín police, told a Colombian radio station that 75 people had been killed at the site of the crash and six others had been injured and rescued from the scene. One of the rescued passengers died on the way to the hospital, Acevedo said.

Medellín’s mayor, Federico Gutierrez, called it “a tragedy of huge proportions.”

The rescue teams said that the poor weather conditions made it initially difficult for  them to access the crash site, but Alfredo Bocanegra, the head of Colombia’s aviation authority, told reporters at about 4 a.m. Tuesday that search efforts continued despite heavy rain.

 

“It is worth it to keep looking,” Bocanegra said in Spanish. “One single life is worth it.”

The aircraft was having on board members of the Chapecoense Real soccer team, based in southern Brazil, for the finals of the Copa Sudamerica against Atletico Nacional of Medellín. The first match was scheduled for Wednesday in Medellín, according to Colombia’s aviation authority, Aero-civil.

List Of Those Who Survive The Crash Out the 81 Passengers Including The Brazilian Team

The aviation authority confirmed on its Facebook page Tuesday morning the names of the six passengers that survived the crash. Three members of the soccer team – Alan Luciano Ruschel and goalkeepers Jackson Ragnar Follmann and Marcos Danilo Padilha – were among the survivors. Two crew members – Ximena Suárez and Erwin Tumiri were also rescued, along with Bralizian journalist Rafael Henzel.

Among the first to be rescued was Ruschel, 27, who was transported to a hospital in the town of La Ceja, Blu Radio reported. He arrived in a frantic state but with no major wounds, asking about his family and requesting that medical staff take care of his wedding ring, the radio station reported. Henzel, the journalist, was in stable condition, the radio station reported, citing a local fire rescue official.

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Report From The Crash Site

 The aircraft, a British Aerospace short-haul plane operated by a Bolivian charter company, went down near the town of La Unión, according to Colombian officials, about 53 miles from the Medellín airport. Medellín’s mayor told Colombian radio the plane had come down in a mountainous region.

A Press Report Of The plane crash.

The Associated Press reported that the plane declared an emergency at about 10 p.m. Monday local time due to an electrical failure.

“It seemed the plane had no fuel,” said Elkin Ospina, the mayor of nearby La Ceja, according to an AFP report quoted on the The Folha de S.Paulo newspaper site.

A vice-president of the Brazilian Soccer Association, Delfim Peixoto, was on board, the association said, according to Folha.

The club posted a brief statement on its Facebook page: “may God accompany our athletes, officials, journalists and other guests traveling with our delegation.” It said it would have no further comment until it had more details on the crash.

According to Aero-civil, there were 72 passengers and 9 crew aboard the flight from Santa Cruz, Bolivia, where the team stopped over. Passengers included 22 soccer players and 22 journalists, according to the aviation authority and local media reports.