Plane carrying Brazilian football players crashes in Columbia

BOGOTA: A plane carrying 81 people, including members of a Brazilian football team, crashed late Monday near the Colombian city of Medellin, officials said.

The airport that serves Medellin said that among the 72 passengers and nine crew were members of Chapecoense Real, a Brazilian football club that was supposed to play against Colombia´s Atletico Nacional Wednesday in the South American Cup finals.

"Confirmed, the aircraft license number CP2933 was carrying the team @ChapecoenseReal. Apparently there are survivors," the Jose Maria Cordova de Rionegro airport said on its Twitter account.

The LAMIA aircraft was flying from Bolivia to Medellin when it crashed in an area called Cerro Gordo about 50 kilometers from the city, Colombia´s second largest.

"It appears that the plane ran out of fuel," Elkin Ospina, the mayor of the nearby town of La Ceja, told AFP.

He said authorities were on the scene and hospitals and medical centers were preparing to receive the injured.
On its Twitter account, the Medellin airport said the crash site could only be reached overland because of bad weather in the area.
Colombia´s civil aeronautics agency said it had a team at the airport in response to the crash.