75 die as plane with Brazil’s soccer team crashes

LA UNION, Colombia/ CHAPECO, Brazil: A charter plane carrying Brazilian soccer team Chapecoense to the biggest game in its history crashed in the Colombian mountains after an electrical fault, killing 75 people on board, authorities said on Tuesday.

Colombia´s worst air disaster in two decades came as the team from Brazil´s top soccer league flew to face Atletico Nacional of Medellin in the first leg of the Copa Sudamericana final, South America´s equivalent of the Europa League.

The plane, en route from Bolivia where the team had a stopover, went down about 10:15pm on Monday night with 72 passengers and a crew of nine on board. It had reported electrical problems and declared an emergency minutes earlier as it neared its destination, Medellin airport officials said.

At the crash scene near the town of La Union in wooded highlands outside Medellin, dozens of bodies were laid out and covered with sheets around the wreckage of the BAe 146.The plane was shattered against a mountainside with the tail end virtually disintegrated.

Rain hampered dozens of rescuers as they combed the muddy and forested area. Colombia´s civil aviation head, Alfredo Bocanegra, said there were 75 confirmed fatalities, with six injured survivors. They were listed as three players, a journalist and two members of the flight crew. Two of the six were in grave condition.

It was the first time Chapecoense, a small club from the southern Brazilian town of Chapeco, had reached the final of a major South American club competition.  Brazilian news organizations said 21 journalists had been on board the plane to cover the match. Global soccer was stunned, matches were cancelled around South America, and Brazil declared three days of mourning.

"I express my solidarity in this sad hour during which tragedy has beset dozens of Brazilian families," President Michel Temer said. Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos tweeted his condolences. "Solidarity with the families of the victims and Brazil," he said.

Colombia´s civil aviation authority named the survivors as players Alan Ruschel, Jackson Follmann and Hélio Neto; journalist Rafael Valmorbida; air stewardess Ximena Suarez and flight technician Erwin Tumiri. Flight tracking service Flightradar24 said on Twitter the last signal from flight 2933 was received when it was at 15,500 feet, about 30km from its destination, which sits at an altitude of 7,000 feet.

The BAe 146 was produced by a company that is now part of the UK´s BAE SystemsThe team flew Brazilian airline Gol to Santa Cruz in Bolivia and then took a flight from there to Medellin on the plane run by a Bolivian-based, Venezuelan-owned company called LaMia.

The crash evoked memories of a series of soccer air disasters in the 20th century, including the Munich crash in 1958 that killed 23 people, including eight Manchester United players, journalists and travelling officials. World governing body Fifa said on Twitter its "thoughts were with the victims, their families, fans of Chapecoense and media organisations in Brazil on this tragic day."

Chapecoense qualified for the biggest game in its history after overcoming the Argentine club San Lorenzo in the semi-final on away goals following a 1-1 draw in Buenos Aires and 0-0 draw at home. They were underdogs for the match against a club going for a rare double after winning the Copa Libertadores in July. Chapecoense was the 21st biggest club in Brazil in terms of revenue in 2015, bringing in 46 million reais ($13.5 million).