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Investigators have confirmed the plane which crashed in Columbia killing 71 people had no fuel at the point of impact.

La Mia Flight 2933 plummeted into a mountainside shortly after declaring an electrical failure.

Six of the 77 people on board - including players from Chapecoense FC and twenty journalists - were killed.

The lack of an explosion or any fire suggested the plane did not have any fuel when it went down.

At a press conference, civil aviation chief Alfredo Bocanegra said: "Upon arriving at the scene of the accident, and having been able to do an inspection of all of the remains and parts of the plane, we can affirm, clearly, that the aircraft did not have fuel at the moment of impact.

"Therefore, we have begun a process to investigate to clear up for what reason this aircraft had no fuel at the time of impact."

It comes as the family of the pilot spoke of their heartbreak.

Miguel Alejandro Quiroga Murakami was in control when ithe flight crashed just 30km from its final destination of Medellin airport.

Investigators are now urgently examining the plane's black box to determine what caused the crash.

But initial evidence suggests the plane may simply have run out of fuel after flying beyond its capacity.

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(Image: FuerzaChapecoe/Twitter)

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Another pilot who was flying in the area at the time claims he heard Quiroga on the radio saying "there's no fuel" and "Help us!" before screaming "We're going down".

Today Denise Pinto, speaking on behalf of the Quiroga family, said: "The atmosphere in the house is one of total sadness, we still can't believe it.

"We know that Miguel did everything possible to save the crew and everyone on board the flight.

"If you look at his professional background, he had experience abroad, exams and experience with the Bolivian Air Force."

Quiroga, known as Micky, was a father of to three children aged five months to four-years-old.

He graduated with the Bolivian Air Force academy in 2002 but retired from the military five years ago to be a commercial pilot and spend more time with his family.

Flight data shows the plane circled several times before the disaster after declaring an electrical failure.

(Image: Facebook/Associação Chapecoense de Futebol)

It had been suggested Quiroga may have heroically dumped fuel in a bid to prevent an explosion on impact.

But reports in Colombia claim Flight 2933 was asked to circle at 21,000ft as it neared Medellin because another incoming flight had an an "abnormality" on board and was given priority.

Moments later, the plane suddenly lost all power and plummeted into the hills.

The 2,972km flight path from Santa Cruz in Bolivia to Medellin was right at the edge of the aircraft's capacity.

It had been expected that if the plane ran low on fuel, it would stop in Bogota.

But this did not happen, so it is understood the plane would have been almost empty by the time it got to Medellin.

(Image: Getty Images)

Asked if the plane crashed due to a lack of fuel, General Gustavo Vargas, director of LaMia, said: “We’re looking into it, we're waiting for information from the investigation.

“But if he [the pilot] believed there wasn’t enough fuel, he would have gone to Bogota to refuel.

“Bogota Airport, according to the flight plan, was the alternative in any case."

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“Before passing Bogota he would have had to make the decision; if there was enough fuel he should continue, but if anything had happened with the fuel, he should have stopped.”

Mr Vargas added: "It would seem that if the pilot continued on, it was because he was able to."

It has also emerged that Chapecoense had not intended for players to be on the plane in the first place.

They had initially planned to charter a flight directly from Brazil to Colombia.

But Brazilian authorities barred them from doing so because LaMia is not Brazilian or Colombian-owned, according to reports.

The decision was made to fly to Bolivia first, then on to the final destination in Colombia.

Just six people survived and today some of them have been speaking for the first time about the moments before impact.

Crew member Erwin Tumiri told how passengers were left terrified as the plane began to plummet to the ground.

(Image: Ximena Suarez Otterburg/Facebook) (Image: Reuters)

He said: "I saved myself because I followed the emergency protocol, putting bags between my legs and put myself in the fetal position.

"I also saw how many passengers rose and began to scream."

Air stewardess Ximena Suarez, who was found hours after the crash near the wreckage, also described the horrifying moment the plane crashed to the ground.

Speaking to newspaper El Colombiano, she said: "The plane went out completely and had a sharp decline, followed by a big impact.”