Police in Colombia say 76 of the 81 people on board a plane which crashed outside the city of Medellin have died.

Speaking to a local radio station Caracol, Medellin police chief José Acevedo said six people had been pulled alive from the wreckage, but that one had died in hospital.

The other 75 are believed to have died at the crash site. The rescue effort was suspended at around 3am local time due to heavy rain, at which point 25 bodies had been recovered.

The plane was carrying a large delegation including first team players from top-flight Brazilian football team Chapecoense Real.

Three players were among the six initially rescued, along with two crew members and a journalist. It is not yet known which of the six later died in hospital.

Chapecoense Real had chartered the British Aerospace 146 short-haul airliner to take them from Bolivia to Medellin where, on Wednesday, they were due to play the first leg of the Copa Sudamerica finals against Atletico Nacional.

The club had been enjoying a fairy-tale season, advancing to the last hurdle of what is considered South America's equivalent of the Uefa Europa League, just a year after achieving promotion to Brazil's top league for the first time in the club's history.

The plane was just five minutes out from Medellin when its pilots issued a distress signal to control tower, citing an electrical failure.

Medellin Plane Crash Show all 17 1 /17 Medellin Plane Crash Medellin Plane Crash Logo of Brazilian football team Chapecoense at the site of the plane crash in a mountainous area outside the Colombian city of Medellin. Plane carrying Brazilian football team Chapecoense crashes in Colombia Rex Medellin Plane Crash Rescue workers carry the body of a survivor of a plane that crashed in La Union, a mountainous area outside Medellin, Colombia AP Medellin Plane Crash Rescue workers carry the body of a man from a plane that crashed outside Medellin, Colombia. The plane was carrying the Brazilian first division soccer club Chapecoense team that was on it's way for a Copa Sudamericana final match against Colombia's Atletico Nacional AP Medellin Plane Crash Medical staff waiting for survivors of the crashed plane carrying the Brazilian football team Chapecoense, at San Juan de Dios La Ceja Hospital, in La Ceja municipality, near Medellin Rex Medellin Plane Crash Medical staff from the San Juan de Dios hospital transfer 27-year-old Brazilian soccer player Alan Ruschel as he arrives to La Ceja in Colombia Rex Medellin Plane Crash 81 people, including the players of the Brazilian soccer club Chapecoense, crashed in a mountainous area outside Medellin as it was approaching the Jose Maria Cordoba airport EPA Medellin Plane Crash Medical staff from the San Juan de Dios hospital transfer Brazilian journalist Rafael Henze as he arrives at La Ceja in Colombia after surviving a plane crash EPA Medellin Plane Crash razil's Chapecoense player Helio Neto is helped by paramedics at the San Juan de Dios clinic in La Ceja. Traveling on the doomed airliner that crashed in Colombia overnight were the players and staff of a Brazilian football club about to complete a fairytale journey from unknowns to would-be South American champions Getty Medellin Plane Crash Rescue workers search at the wreckage site of a chartered airplane that crashed outside Medellin, Colombia AP Medellin Plane Crash A charter plane carrying the Chapocoense Real football team crashed in the mountains in Colombia late Monday, killing as many as 75 people, officials said Getty Medellin Plane Crash Rescuers gesture near the wreckage of the LAMIA airlines charter plane carrying members of the Chapecoense Real football team that crashed in the mountains of Cerro Gordo, municipality of La Union Getty Medellin Plane Crash Supporters of the Chapcoense FC gathering at the club in Chapeco, Brazil EPA Medellin Plane Crash Supporters of the Chapcoense FC gathering at the club in Chapeco, Brazil EPA Medellin Plane Crash People pay tribute to the players of Brazilian team Chapecoense Real who were killed in a plane accident in the Colombian mountains, at the club's Arena Conda stadium in Chapeco Getty Medellin Plane Crash Fans pay tribute to members of the Chapecoense team in front of the club headquarters, in the city of Chapeco Getty Medellin Plane Crash People pay tribute to the players of Brazilian team Chapecoense Real who were killed in a plane accident in the Colombian mountains, at the club's Arena Conda stadium in Chapeco Getty Medellin Plane Crash People pay tribute to the players of Brazilian team Chapecoense Real who were killed in a plane accident in the Colombian mountains, at the club's Arena Conda stadium in Chapeco, in the southern Brazilian state of Santa Catarina Getty

It crashed in a mountainous area between La Ceja and La Unión which has been hit by bad weather and heavy rains in recent days, hampering the rescue effort.

A rescue helicopter which was dispatched in the wake of the distress signal was forced to turn back due to poor visibility, and those who made it to hospital were taken by ambulance.