With 81 passengers on board, among them members of a famous Brazilian football team, Chapecoense, the finalist of the Copa Sudamerican crashed around 10:15 pm local time in Cerro Gordo in the municipality of La Union, while approaching Medellin International Airport in Colombia. 75 died.
The plane took off from Bolivia and was flying over the town of La Union at around 10 p.m. when the crew declared an emergency, according to a statement from the José María Córdova International Airport in Rionegro, Colombia. The plane crashed moments later in a mountainous area in the Antioquian municipality, about 22 miles from the airport, which serves the city of Medellin.
It was not immediately clear what caused the short-haul, British Aerospace 146 to crash, but heavy rains and thunderstorms hit Colombia around the time of the tragedy. Officials said the plane’s data and voice recorders — black boxes — were recovered from the scene. Colombia aviation officials said the plane experienced electrical problems, but the Associated Press said investigators were also looking into an account from one survivor that the plane ran out of fuel.
Chapecoense defender Alan Ruschel, 27, was in a stable condition after being pulled from the plane’s wreckage, said Alfredo Bocanegra, head of Colombia’s civil aviation agency. He said two other players, Jakson Follman and Helio Zampier, journalist Rafael Valmorbida, flight attendant Ximena Suarez and crew member Erwin Tumiri also survived and were taken to nearby hospitals.
The club also announced one of its goalkeepers, Danilo, initially survived the crash but later died.
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