Plane crash kills dream of football team that defied odds

The football world was in mourning as clubs, players and fans from around the globe sent tributes and support to Brazilian side Chapecoense following a deadly air crash in Colombia that killed 76 people, including four players. The small club from the town of Chapeco had been heading for the biggest game in its history, the first leg of today's Copa Sudamericana final, when its plane crashed in a mountainous rural area outside of the city of Medellin. Brazilian President Michel Temer declared three days of mourning for the victims.



The LAMIA airlines charter declared an emergency at around 10 pm local time (0300 GMT) Tuesday, reporting it had suffered "electrical failures," and crashed a short time later near the city of Medellin, officials said. The plane was carrying members of Chapecoense Real to play in the Copa Sudamericana finals today against Atletico Nacional of Colombia.

"The pain is terrible. Just as we had made it, I will not say to the top, but to have national prominence, a tragedy like this happens. It is very difficult, a very great tragedy," club vice-president Ivan Tozzo told Globo SportTV. In all, there were 72 passengers and nine crew on board the British Aerospace 146. A police commander, Jose Gerardo Acevedo, initially said only five people survived the crash, but Colombian authorities later said a sixth person was found alive, raising hopes there might be other survivors. One of the survivors was Alan Ruschel, a 27-year-old defender for the Brazilian team, the head of Colombia's civil aeronautics agency, Alfredo Bocanegra, told reporters. Radio Caracol said two other players - Marcos Danilo Padilla and Jackson Follmann - also survived and were taken to hospitals, along with a flight attendant and a journalist.


In this Feb. 6, 1958 file photo snow falls on the wreck of British European Airways Flight 609 which crashed on take-off at Munich, Germany. On board the plane was the Manchester United football team, nicknamed the Busby Babes, along with supporters and journalists. Twenty-three of the 44 passengers on board the aircraft died in the crash.

The LAMIA airlines flight originated in Sao Paulo, Brazil and had made a stop in Santa Cruz, Bolivia before continuing on to Rionegro, a city near Medellin. The airport statement said the plane reported an emergency at 10 pm local time (0300 GMT). "It declared it had electrical failures." It went down about 50 kilometers (30 miles) from Medellin, Colombia's second largest city, in an area called Cerro Gordo. Elkin Ospina, the mayor of the town of La Ceja near the crash site, said the mountainous terrain was some 3,300 meters (10,800 feet) above sea level and very difficult to access. Rescuers carrying stretchers had to hike for more than half an hour to reach the site. Conmebol, the South American football confederation, meanwhile officially called off the Copa Sudamericana final that was to be played between Chapecoense and Atletico Nacional.

Chapecoense and Atletico Nacional were supposed to have faced off in today's first leg of the final of the Copa Sudamericana, the second most prestigious club football tournament in South America after the Copa Libertadores. Chapecoense had reached the final after completing a victory on away goals last week over Argentinian side San Lorenzo in the semi-finals. Chapecoense is widely regarded as one of the minnows of Brazilian club football, having been founded relatively recently in 1973 in the city of Chapeco in southern Santa Catarina state. After decades in the lower divisions, Chapecoense returned to Brazil's top flight Serie A in 2014 for the first time since 1979. The club finished in 14th spot in the 2015 edition of the 20-team championship. Two weeks ago, the same plane was used to fly the Argentine national team with Lionel Messi on board to San Juan, Argentina for a World Cup qualifying match.

Samsunspor also had an accident in 1989

On Jan. 20 1989, while traveling to Malatya to face Malatyaspor, Samsunspor were involved in a bus accident. The accident killed five players and coaches and seriously injured seven other team members. Among the players killed were Mete Adanır and Muzaffer Badaloğlu. Zoran Tomic fell into a coma for six months before dying in his native Yugoslavia. Manager Nuri Asan and the bus driver were also killed. Of the players who were injured, two continued playing. Emin Kar, captain of Samsunspor, was left paralyzed after the event. Fatih Uraz, then starting goalkeeper of Samsunspor and the Turkey national football team, broke a vertebra in his back. He made a return to football, but was unable to regain a starting place at either national or club level.