Celia Castedo, who may have illegally bypassed Bolivian migration controls to seek asylum, is being sought in investigation of plane crash that killed 71 people

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

The airplane crash that decimated the Chapecoense football team has threatened to stir up a diplomatic storm after the Bolivian air traffic controller who revealed irregularities about the flight requested asylum in Brazil.

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Celia Castedo, an official from the Viru Viru airport in Santa Cruz, fled across the border rather than face an investigation by Bolivian authorities who suspect the small LaMia chartered plane took off with a flight plan showing the intended route would push the limits of the plane’s maximum possible flight time.

Seventy-one people died when the aircraft fell from the sky just short of its destination of Medellín, where Chapecoense – a Brazilian team – had been due to play in the final of the Copa Sudamericana.



Castedo said the accident could have been prevented if her warnings had been heeded in Bolivia, where the plane had made a stopover. She told Brazilian officials she needed asylum to avoid repercussions from the authorities.

However, the Bolivian interior minister, Carlos Romero, said Castedo had crossed the border illegally to avoid justice. She is accused of negligence for allegedly approving the flight.



“There is no argument to justify an asylum request,” Romero told reporters. “Logically, in a case like this there should be a process of automatic expulsion (from Brazil).”



Several high-ranking aviation officials have already been suspended in Bolivia. The government there also filed a lawsuit against LaMia on Monday.



While Brazilian officials consider Castedo’s request for refuge, prosecutors from the two countries will meet to discuss how to cooperate on the investigation.

The main focus is likely to be the captain of the flight, Miguel Quiroga, who was also one of the owners of LaMia. Investigators will examine allegations that his business interests may have prompted him to buy the minimum amount of fuel for the journey, rather than add sufficient extra to account for delays and diversions – as is stipulated in aviation regulations. A planned refuelling stop was also abandoned.

Further muddying the waters are reports in the Spanish and Brazilian media this week that claim Quiroga was due to go on trial for abandoning the air force.

Survivors said the pilot did not tell the passengers they faced an emergency situation.

“We all believed we were going to land,” Erwin Tumiri, a Bolivian flight technician, told a news conference on Monday in Cochabamba, where he is being treated for injuries.

“The pilot had already announced the landing and we were waiting for that,” Tumiri said.



The football players, he said, were happily listening to music as the plane descended.

