Associação Chapecoense divulga vídeo onde o time aparece comemorando no vestiário
Video "The Priority: Saving Lives"
A chartered plane carrying 81 people, including a soccer team from Brazil, crashed on the outskirts of Medellin, Colombia, killing most on board.
By YARA BISHARA on Publish Date November 29, 2016. Photo by Luis Benavides/Associated Press. Watch in Times VideoA chartered plane carrying 81 people, including members of a Brazilian soccer team that had made a stunning climb up the ranks at home, crashed on the outskirts of Medelln, Colombia, killing nearly everyone onboard, the authorities said early Tuesday.
Colombias civilian aviation authority said that six people had survived the crash three players, two crew members and a journalist who was accompanying the team.
Members of the Chapecoense soccer team were traveling from Bolivia to play in the final of the Copa Sudamericana tournament when the plane crashed around 10 p.m. on Monday.
The aircraft was carrying 72 passengers and nine crew members, according to the Medelln airport. Search and rescue efforts were hampered by low visibility and difficulty in reaching the site.
Photo Rescue workers removing bodies of victims at the site of a plane crash on the outskirts of Medelln, Colombia, on Tuesday. Credit Luis Benavides/Associated PressThe authorities said the plane had reported electrical problems as it flew near the towns of La Ceja and La Unin, in mountainous stretches around Medelln.
The crash crushed the hopes of one of the most impressive success stories in Brazilian soccer. In a national soccer league plagued by corruption scandals, mismanagement and lingering fury over the debacle of the national teams loss to Germany in the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, Chapecoense managed to achieve success on the field and financial stability.
It emerged as a scrappy upstart, challenging giants like Flamengo, Corinthians and other storied Brazilian clubs. In southern Brazil, the team was the pride of Chapec, a staid city of 210,000 known for its food processing plants and other agribusiness ventures.
This is a relatively small city, so everyone knows somebody who was on the plane, said Roberto Panarotta, 44, a professor of media studies in Chapec. He added that he lost a childhood friend in the crash, a member of the coaching staff.
Everybody is shocked, and nobody really knows how to react, he said. Nothing like this has ever happened here.
Photo The Brazilian soccer player Alan Ruschel arriving at a hospital in La Ceja, Colombia, on Tuesday, after surviving a plane crash. Credit Luis Eduardo Noriega A./European Pressphoto AgencyAt least 21 journalists were reported to be onboard the plane, including reporters from Fox Latin America, the Globo television network and news organizations from southern Brazil. All but one died, the authorities said.
In a televised address, President Juan Manuel Santos of Colombia called the crash a tragedy that has the whole region in mourning. He said that of the six survivors, two were in critical condition, and that he had spoken with President Michel Temer of Brazil, offering any assistance needed.
The Colombian station Blu Radio, citing an interview it conducted with Alfredo Bocanegra, Colombias civil aviation director, said the plane had declared an emergency as it approached Medelln. The plane was given priority to land before air traffic controllers lost contact with it.
Federico Gutirrez, the mayor of Medelln, told Blu Radio that emergency support, with firefighters, ambulances and the hospital network, had been activated.
Members of Chapecoense were flying to Colombia for the first match of a two-leg final in the Copa Sudamericana, a second-tier championship for South American clubs. That match, against the Colombian team Atltico Nacional, was scheduled for Wednesday in Medelln. Chapecoense beat San Lorenzo the Argentine club that counts Pope Francis as a fan in the semifinals, and clubs like Atltico Junior of Colombia and Independiente of Argentina along the way.
The South American Football Confederation said that it had suspended the Copa Sudamericana and that the groups president was heading to Medelln.
As Brazilians awoke on Tuesday to reports about the crash, they expressed anguish, and Mr. Temer said on Twitter that there would be a three-day mourning period.
Before boarding, they said they were seeking to turn their dream into reality, Plnio David de Nes Filho, chairman of the board overseeing the Chapecoense club, told reporters. This morning, that dream is over.
The mayor of Chapec said he and other officials narrowly missed being on the plane. .
We were supposed to be on that flight, said the mayor, Luciano Buligon, adding that he and others had opted instead to take a commercial flight.
Others expressed relief about reports of survivors, including three players. Thank G*d Alan is in the hospital, in stable condition, Moa Ruschel, the wife of Alan Ruschel, a defender for Chapecoense who was among the survivors, said in a post on Instagram. We are praying for everyone who wasnt saved.
Photo Players from the Chapecoense de Brasil soccer team on Thursday before the second leg of the Copa Sudamericana semifinal. Credit Nelson Almeida/Agence France-Presse Getty ImagesChapecoense, founded in 1973, returned to the top tier of Brazilian soccer in 2014 after a 35-year absence. The two-legged fixture with Atltico Nacional in the final of the Copa Sudamericana had been described as the biggest in the teams history.
Chapecoenses rise from the countrys fourth division where it played as recently as 2009 has been described as a Cinderella story.
The club has established a reputation for long-term thinking and financial prudence, a rarity in the chaotic world of Brazilian soccer, and its progress to the final of the Copa Sudamericana put it in position to become the first team from the country to contest a continental trophy since 2013.
Conmebol, the governing body of South American soccer, issued a statement to say that all of the federations activities would be suspended until further notice. A number of teams in Brazil canceled events; Barcelona said it would hold a moment of silence before training on Tuesday; and clubs from across the world, including Manchester City and AC Milan, shared their condolences.
Romrio de Souza Faria, a former striker for the Brazilian national team, expressed his solidarity with the friends and families of the players, journalists, technical staff and flight crew who died in the crash.
G*d please help all those who were onboard the plane, Alexandre Pato, who plays in Spain and has been a member of Brazils national team, wrote on Twitter.
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