Brazil has declared three days of mourning after a plane carrying the Chapecoense football team crashed in Colombia in the early hours of Tuesday, killing 71 players, journalists and crew members.



Six of the 77 people on the plane – three footballers, two crew and a journalist – survived the disaster. One footballer who was pulled alive from the plane’s wreckage died later in hospital.

A Reuters photographer at the scene said dozens of bodies were laid out and covered with sheets around the wreckage, as about 30 rescuers, police and military personnel searched the crash site. He said the plane had been split in two with only the nose and wings recognisable, and the tail end completely destroyed.

Colombia plane crash: 76 killed, 5 survivors from plane carrying Chapecoense footballers – latest Read more

Colombian officials said the charter flight started its journey in São Paulo, Brazil, on Monday afternoon and stopped over in Bolivia before heading for the Colombian city of Medellín, where the team had been due to play in the final of the Copa Sudamericana.



The plane, a British Aerospace 146 short-haul aircraft, was carrying footballers, club staff and journalists to the match against Atlético Nacional in Colombia’s second-largest city.

A statement from José María Córdova airport in Medellín said the plane had declared an emergency at 10pm local time on Monday because of electrical failures. Around 15 minutes later, it crashed in a wooded, mountainous area outside Medellín, where heavy rain, fog and darkness hampered rescue efforts.

“At the moment we know that the disaster happened in Cerro Gordo in the municipality of La Unión and that there were 72 passengers and nine crew on board, including the football team Chapecoense Real. There are reported to be six survivors,” the statement read. Officials originally believed there were 81 people on the plane, but the toll was lowered after it was confirmed that four people on the passenger list had failed to board the plane in Bolivia.

Later on Monday, Colombia’s civil aeronautics agency announced that it had found the plane’s two flight recorders “in perfect condition.”

Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) Flightradar24 received last ADS-B signal from #LMI2933 at 15,500 feet - about 30 km from destination MDE airport located at ~7,000 feet. pic.twitter.com/hGcyHc98EV

Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) Flight #LMI2933 took of from Santa Cruz (VVI) at 22:18 UTC time and lost signal from Flightradar24 near Medellin (MDE) at 02:55 UTC time pic.twitter.com/mLL7cGTf93

Colombia’s civil aviation authority named the six survivors in a statement posted on Facebook on Tuesday. It said two crew members – Ximena Suárez, a flight attendant, and Erwin Tumiri, a flight technician – had been taken to the Clínica Somer hospital in Rionegro.

Three players – Alan Luciano Ruschel, Jakson Ragnar Follmann and H élio Hermito Zampier – were also said to be in hospital, along with the journalist, Rafael Valmorbida. Two of the six are said to be seriously injured. The player who was rescued but later died of his injuries was named as goalkeeper Marcos Danilo Padilha.



Amanda Ruschel, who is married to Alan Ruschel, the first player to be taken to hospital, posted a photo of him on Instagram alongside the message: “Thank God Alan is in the hospital, stable. We are praying for all of those who were not yet rescued and offer our support to all their relatives. This is a complicated, difficult situation. Only God himself can give us strength. Thank you God.”

Nivaldo, a 42-year-old Brazilian goalkeeper who has been at the club since 2006 but did not travel to Colombia, told website UOL Esporte he had been woken at 5am on Tuesday by a phone call from a worried friend who wanted to know if he was on the flight. He said he had tried to call his team-mates and other club staff who were on the plane, but nobody answered.

“Everybody is praying that the worst hasn’t happened,” he told the website. “I’m bracing for the worst. I don’t want to, I can’t believe it, but you have to be strong.”

The victims included the team’s manager, Luiz Carlos Saroli, known as Caio Júnior; his son, Matheus Saroli, had been scheduled to take the flight, but was unable to depart because he had left his passport at home. “We need strength and I ask that you give us a little privacy, especially my mother,” he wrote on Facebook.

The Brazilian president, Michel Temer, declared a period of national mourning and offered his condolences to the friends and families of those on the plane in a series of tweets. “I express my solidarity at this sad time when dozens of Brazilian families have been affected by tragedy,” he wrote.

Michel Temer (@MichelTemer) (AI) Presidente Temer decreta luto oficial por três dias pela tragédia na Colômbia https://t.co/0sggEMnZrD #ForçaChape @ChapecoenseReal

“We are offering every form of help and assistance that we can to the families. The air force and foreign ministry have been put to work. The government will do everything possible to relieve the pain of these friends and families of Brazilian sport and journalism.”

His Colombian counterpart, Juan Manuel Santos, also tweeted his condolences, saying: “Solidarity with the families of the victims and Brazil.”

As tributes flooded in from clubs, players and fans around the world, Brazil announced that all football matches would be postponed for a week. Some footballers and clubs changed their social media profile pictures to a black version of Chapecoense’s green badge, and many included the hashtag #ForçaChape – or Strength Chape – after the club’s nickname.



Atlético Nacional, the Colombian team Chapecoense were travelling to play, called for the Copa Sudamericana to be given to the Brazilian side to honour “their great loss and in posthumous tribute to the victims of the fatal accident that has left our sport in mourning”. It added: “As far as we’re concerned, Chapecoense will forever be the champions of the 2016 Copa Sudamericana.”



Raimundo Colombo, the governor of Santa Catarina state – where the team is based in the city of Chapecó – said Chapecoense were not only representing the city and state, but were also making history as the first club from the region to reach the final of an international competition.



He said he was in a state of shock and expressed his solidarity with the families of the players, club officials and journalists who formed the delegation “at what is a time of great pain for the sporting community in Santa Catarina and in Brazil”.

Chapecoense fans gathered outside the club’s stadium to mourn the dead, console one another and offer their prayers. The club posted a video on Facebook of the team in good spirits shortly before takeoff.



Nivaldo, who was not part of the squad for the game, said Chapecó, a small city of about 200,000 residents, had come to a virtual standstill as locals came to terms with the news. “The situation is very sad here,” he said. “The city has stopped. It’s a moment of suffering. It’s a huge loss for Brazilian football – a team that was at its peak.”

Some fans left messages under the video. “I am from Rio de Janeiro and I am praying for you. May God and Our Lady send their angels to take care of you all,” one wrote.



Diário Catarinense, a newspaper covering Santa Catarina, said there was confusion and anguish among those linked to the club in Chapecó. Cissa Soletti, who works for the team’s marketing department, told the newspaper it was instructing staff to gather at the club’s HQ. The mayor of Chapecó, Luciano Buligon, who was due to fly to Colombia for the match, said he knew nothing beyond the fact that there were some survivors.

British inspectors are flying out to the crash site as part of the investigation, in line with international protocols. A spokesman for the UK’s Air Accidents Investigation Branch said: “As the state of manufacture of the aircraft, the AAIB is sending a team of inspectors to Colombia to assist with the investigation of the aircraft accident at Medellín.”



Chapecoense play in Brazil’s premier division, Série A. The club was founded in 1973 and first won promotion to the top flight in 2014.

The Copa Sudamericana is South America’s second-tier club competition, one rung below the Copa Libertadores, the centrepiece of the continent’s football calendar. The winner of the Copa Sudamericana gains automatic entry into next season’s Copa Libertadores.

The final, like each round of the tournament, is a two-legged tie, consisting of a home match and an away fixture. Atlético Nacional were due to visit Brazil for the return leg on 7 December.