An airplane that crashed in the mountains of Colombia, killing 71 people, including members of a Brazilian soccer team, might have run out of fuel, a Colombian military source told reporters, while an investigation into the crash was to begin yesterday.
“It is very suspicious that, despite the impact, there was no explosion. That reinforces the theory of the lack of fuel,” the source said on Tuesday.
Six people miraculously survived the crash on Monday night, but the disaster virtually wiped out an up-and-coming Brazilian soccer team, sending shock waves through the world of soccer.
Photo: EPA
Soccer legends Pele and Maradona, as well as current superstars Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, led tributes to the players of Chapecoense, a humble team whose march to glory was cut abruptly short.
Having risen only recently from obscurity, they were on their way to play in the finals of the Copa Sudamericana, South America’s second-biggest club tournament, when disaster struck.
“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,” Chapecoense vice president Ivan Tozzo told Globo SporTV. “It is very difficult, a very great tragedy.”
The charter flight reported “electrical failures” at about 10pm on Monday and crashed soon after near the city of Medellin, its destination, officials said.
Investigators from Brazil were flying in to join Colombian counterparts checking two flight recorders from the crash site on a muddy hillside in wooded highlands near the town of La Union, but there was no word on how long it would take to analyze them.
Soldiers guarded the wreckage overnight after rescuers left, and investigators were to start work at first light.
Bolivia, where charter airline LaMia is based, also sent in experts to help with the investigation.
The British Air Accidents Investigation Branch said it was sending experts, along with representatives of the airplane’s manufacturer, BAE Systems.
The British Aerospace 146 airliner began operations in 1999 and previously belonged to two other airlines, a spokesman for the manufacturer told reporters.
Specialist Web sites said the same aircraft was used two weeks ago to fly the Argentine national team, including Messi, to San Juan, Argentina, for a soccer World Cup qualifying match.
The dead included most of the team and 20 Brazilian journalists traveling to cover the match.
The six survivors were hospitalized for treatment, officials said.
“I have just seen the plane and given the state it is in, it is a miracle that six people survived,” said Luis Perez, governor of Antioquia Department, where the airplane went down.
One survivor, goalkeeper Jackson Follmann, had to have his right leg amputated, San Vicente Foundation Hospital said, adding that he was “stabilizing” in intensive care.
Defender Helio Neto remained in intensive care with severe trauma to his skull, thorax and lungs. Fellow defender Alan Ruschel had spine surgery.
The Colombian Special Administrative Unit of Civil Aeronautics initially said 75 people were killed, but it later emerged that four people on the passenger manifest had not boarded the airplane — a club official; a journalist; the mayor of the team’s hometown, Chapeco, Brazil; and the speaker of the Santa Catarina state assembly.
Soccer-mad Brazil declared three days of mourning.
Fellow top division Brazilian sides also showed solidarity, offering loan players to Chapecoense and urging the national federation to give a three-year stay against relegation while the club gets back on its feet.
Colombia’s Atletico Nacional, Chapecoense’s rivals in the final, asked for the tournament to be awarded to the Brazilians in honor of the dead.
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