Officials confirmed that a plane carrying 72 passengers, including a Brazilian football team and sports reporters, has crashed while travelling to the city of Medellin in Colombia this morning. The airport officials confirmed that the chartered plane that took off from Bolivia was carrying members of Chapecoense football team.
The football team of Chapecoense was to play the final match of the South American club cup against Medellin team Atletico National which has been suspended by the authorities now. According to some reports, the plane is said to be crashed in the mountainous region right outside the city of Medellin. The time of crash is estimated to be 05:00 GMT [10:30 IST].
Medellin’s mayor, Federico Gutierrez describes his regret by addressing that that accident was a tragedy in huge proportions and also expressed that there could be some survivors to the tragic accident. The airport that serves the city of Medellin took to its twitter account, “Confirmed, the aircraft licence number CP2933 was carrying the team @ChapecoenseReal. Apparently there are survivors.”
A search is being carried out for the survivors. So far, Defender Alan Ruschel has been rescued alive from the wreckage and is being treated for a broken hip and head injuries. There’s also another survivor, Goalkeeper Danilo Padilha. Reportedly, there might be eight survivors in the crash.
Update: 18:02 (IST) Goalkeeper Jackson Follman and stewardess Ximena Suárez were found amongst rescued survivors. Search for more survivors in the wreckage has been suspended due to heavy rain. Goalkeeper Danilo has unfortunately passed away. A total of seven people have been pulled from the wreckage so far. The Brazilian President has declared three days of national mourning following the crash.
Discussion about this post