STAFF of the Brazilian football club nearly wiped out in a deadly crash previously praised the doomed airline, saying it brought them good fortune when it flew them last month.

This comes as an injury sidelined Chapecoence soccer player Alejandro Martinuccio. It also likely saved his life.

The Argentine forward wasn’t able to play in the scheduled match in Colombia, so he wasn’t on the team plane that crashed in Colombia, killing most of those aboard.

He told Argentina’s La Red radio that “I was saved because I got injured.”

“I feel profound sadness,” he said.

“The only thing I can ask is prayers for the companions who were on the flight.”

The 28-year-old has played for Spain’s Villarreal, Penarol of Uruguay and Brazilian clubs Coritiba, Ponte Preta, Cruzeiro and Fluminense.

In a tweet, an emotional Martinuccio thanked followers for their messages and apologised for not replying: “Sorry if I can not answer all #ForcaChape” he said.

No paro de pensar , que triste todo esto. Gracias por los mensajes y disculpen si no puedo contestar a todos #ForçaChape pic.twitter.com/P6hQE07Wh1 — AlejandroMartinuccio (@FMartinuccio) November 30, 2016

The top Brazilian football club wiped out on doomed Flight AMI2933 which crashed in Colombia on Monday night local time carrying 77 people changed planes at the last minute.

Team praised doomed airline

Moments before the flight departed, the team’s coaching staff gave an interview to a Bolivian television station in which they praised the airline, saying it brought them good fortune when it flew them to Colombia last month for the championship’s quarterfinals, which they won.

“Now we’re going to do this new trip and we hope they bring us good luck like they did the first time,” athletic director Mauro Stumpf told the Gigavision TV network.

In another video, which has been translated, the players were happy and excited as they prepared to board their flight.

“We are speaking from the International Airport of Guarulhos, the Cumbica airport. Chacoapense soon initiate their process of departure to the city of Medelin, where tomorrow on Wednesday they have their first game against Atletico Nacional. The final game from Sulamericana. You see people passing by, we are here waiting for the authorization so we can depart to the city Medelin, where Chacoapense team will play with Atletico Nacional. The first game of the final. The Sulamericana Cup where Chacoapense...here the Chacoapense director passing by, Sponsors are passing by. This is the most important trip in history of the club?!

A man replies.

“Most important until now, every year that passes we are trying mark the history of the club. We are hoping that again we can in the final that we can do the same, and we come back very soon with more information.”

Video purportedly shows Brazilian soccer team prior to boarding fatal flight Video purportedly shows Brazilian soccer team prior to boarding fatal flight

Death toll revised down to 71; four did not make the flight

Seventy-one people were killed in what is the deadliest air disaster in the world this year.

Colombia’s disaster management agency lowered an initial death toll of 75 given by the civil aviation authority after it emerged that four people on the passenger manifest had not in fact boarded the plane.

Officials tell The Associated Press that Luciano Buligon, Gelson Luiz Merisio, Plinio de Nes Filho and Ivan Carlos Agnoletto didn’t board the flight in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, but were listed on the plane’s passenger list. None of the four were players for the Brazilian soccer team that was being carried to a game on the flight.

Authorities said that a sixth survivor had been found at the crash site near La Ceja. However, the number of survivors dropped to five again after a spokesman for Brazilian soccer club Chapecoense said that goalkeeper Marcos Danilo had died in hospital.

Danilo reportedly called his wife from hospital but died moments after the call. His last-minute save in the semi-final had sealed the team’s spot in the final.

This pic. Punch in stomach:

club's locker room: players of #Chapecoense who have not travelled,after being told news pic.twitter.com/EZthaTu2yb — Tancredi Palmeri (@tancredipalmeri) November 29, 2016

Brazilian President Michel Temer has declared three days of mourning for those killed.

He said Brazilian Air Force planes have been made available for relatives of the victims to travel to Colombia and for the transfer of the bodies to Brazil.

The chartered plane was carrying 22 members of the professional football team Chapecoense, based in the city of Chapecó, Brazil, which was scheduled to play in the first leg of the 2016 Copa Sudamerica final against the Medellin professional football team Atlético Nacional on Wednesday (local time) in Medellin, the capital of Colombia’s mountainous Antioquia province.

There were nine crew members and 20 Brazilian journalists among the dead on the flight to cover Chapecoense’s fairytale season. They included six employees from the Brazilian affiliate of Fox Sports television. One of them, Mario Sergio, was a well-known announcer and former Brazilian international football player.

It has not yet become clear why the team changed flights at the last minute to board the doomed plane.

Families thank ‘God’ for miracle survivors

The survivors were moved on stretchers from the crash site for a 30-minute walk down a mountain before being put on a lorry to waiting ambulances and then to hospital.

Chapecoense’s 27-year-old fullback Alan Ruschel, who is on loan from Brazilian club Internacional, was the first survivor to arrive at the hospital, reported Noticias Caracol.

Ruschel arrived at the hospital awake and talking. He was said to have multiple fractures, lacerations to the head as well as general head trauma.

Confirming he was rescued, Ruchel’s sister Alissen said on Twitter: “God is great and will look after you. Stay strong. You are a soldier.”

According to local reports, when Ruschel came to the hospital he only had one thing on his mind: his family.

The footballer asked that someone take care of his wedding ring, while his only questions were not about his own health, but about his family.

The other survivors are reserve goalkeeper Jakson Follmann, Brazilian journalist Rafael Henzel and two Bolivian crew members including female flight attendant Ximena Suárez.

Doctors in Colombia have confirmed they have amputated Follmann’s right leg. He is in a stable condition in an intensive care unit.

His father, Paulo, told The Associated Press his son is alive thanks to a “miracle of God”. He said he hopes to travel to Colombia in one or two days.

Ruschel tweeted a picture of himself alongside Danilo on the plane as it left Bolivia and Henzel also posted an image to his Instagram page.

Danilo e Alan Ruschel foram os dois primeiros confirmados com vida. Curioso é que os dois estavam juntos #ForcaChape pic.twitter.com/m0fVNrV9bF — pet (@petrusborges11) November 29, 2016

Plane declared emergency due to electrical failure

Aviation authorities said the aircraft, a British Aerospace 146 short-haul plane operated by a Bolivian charter airline Lamia, declared an emergency between the municipalities of la Ceja and la Unión in Colombia at 10pm local time Monday due to an electrical failure.

The head of Colombia’s civil aviation agency says that authorities aren’t ruling out the possibility the flight ran out of fuel before crashing. But for now, the main line of investigation is the possible electrical failure.

Alfredo Bocanegra, speaking from the rescue command center, said that communication with Bolivian aviation officials suggested the plane was experiencing electrical problems.

At the same time, investigators will have to evaluate reported testimony from a female flight attendant who said the plane had run out of fuel.

#Chapecoense: players, board members, coaching staff and Brazilian journalists that were on the plane that crashed in Colombia pic.twitter.com/B882uQ3iMQ — Martin Mazur (@martinmazur) November 29, 2016

The flight is believed to have started its journey in Sao Paulo, Brazil, at 3.35pm local time and stopped in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia, before taking off to Medellin, Colombia.

Soon after, the plane crashed just short of its destination, the Medellin international airport in northwestern Colombia.

The plane broke apart on impact in the remote mountains of Cerro Gordo, leaving the shattered white fuselage plastered on a hillside.

COLOMBIA: Radar Shows Final Moments of LAMIA Bolivia Flight LMI2933 November 29 COLOMBIA: Radar Shows Final Moments of LAMIA Bolivia Flight LMI2933 November 29

The plane’s two black boxes have been found. Colombia’s civil aeronautics agency said in a Twitter message that both of the recorders have been recovered “in perfect condition.”

That could help determine what caused the British Aerospace 146 to crash. Officials did not immediately say how long it would take to analyse their contents.

COLOMBIA: Chapecoense Celebrates Entering Copa Sudamericana Finals November 25 COLOMBIA: Chapecoense Celebrates Entering Copa Sudamericana Finals November 25

Bolivia’s civil aviation agency spokesman Cesar Torrico said the plane underwent an inspection before departing for Colombia and reported no problems.

“We can’t rule out anything. The investigation is ongoing and we’re going to await the results,” said Gustavo Vargas, a retired Bolivian air force general who is president of the airline.

The same plane took the Argentina football team including the world’s best player Lionel Messi to Brazil for the World Cup qualifying match earlier this month.

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) November 29, 2016

The winners of the 2016 Copa Sudamericana, South America’s second most important club competition, qualified for the region’s most prestigious tournament, the 2017 Copa Libertadores.

Founded in 1973, Chapecoenses was promoted to Brazil’s first division in 2014 and reached the final last week after a victory against Argentina’s San Lorenzo.

At daybreak, dozens of bodies scattered across a muddy mountainside were collected into white bags. They were then loaded onto several Black Hawk helicopters that had to perform a tricky manoeuvre to land on the crest of the Andes mountains. The plane’s fuselage appeared to have broken into two, with the nose facing downward into a steep valley.

The mountainous terrain is very difficult to access, a local official said. Rescuers had to hike for more than half an hour to reach the site.

Elkin Ospina, mayor of La Ceja, near where the crash took place, said scores of rescuers worked through the night and had been heartened after pulling three passengers alive from the wreckage.

Authorities and rescuers were immediately activated but an air force helicopter had to turn back because of low visibility.

Heavy rainfall complicated the night-time search and authorities urged journalists to stay off the roads to facilitate the entry of ambulances and rescuers.

Call for Chapecoense to be awarded title

Atlético Nacional have called on the South American Football Confederation, CONMEBOL, to hand Chapecoense a first major title.

A club statement read: “After being concerned about the human part we thought about the competitive aspect and we want to publish this communication in which Atletico Nacional invites CONMEBOL to award the Copa Sudamericana to Associacao Chapecoense de Futebol to honour their great loss.

“For our part, and forever, Chapecoense are champions of the 2016 Copa Sudamericana.”

Nacional head coach Reinaldo Rueda said the decision rests in the hands of CONMEBOL.

“We are not the owners of the tournament,” he told reporters. “At this moment, the executive committee and the directors of Atletico Nacional are holding a meeting.

“They are waiting on the guidelines of CONMEBOL and, with their acceptance, we will establish the position of the club within CONMEBOL guidelines, as is their tournament.

“We have to be supportive with the pain and with the dream of this team, everything that they had to go through in order to get to this stage (the final)”.

The gesture came as CONMEBOL suspended “all activities” in the wake of the tragic event.

In further homage, Brazilian champion Palmeiras has made a request to the Brazilian Football Confederation to wear Chapecoense’s jersey in its last match of the season.

Nacional fans will tomorrow amass outside Medellin stadium where the final was due to be played, bringing candles for mourning.

World mourns loss of fairytale team

Medellin’s Mayor Federico Gutierrez earlier said that it is possible there are survivors.

“It’s a tragedy of huge proportions,” Gutierrez told Blu Radio on his way to the site in a mountainous area outside the city where the chartered aircraft is believed to have crashed shortly before midnight local time.

South America’s football federation extended its condolences to the entire Chapecoense community and said its president, Luis Dominguez, was on his way to Medellin.

All football activities were suspended until further notice, the organisation said in a statement.

José María Córdova International Airport in Rionegro is the second largest airport in Colombia.

Luis Fernando Rodríguez, medical chief of the San Juan de Dios clinic in La Ceja, told mioriente.com: “We are trying to co-ordinate with other hospitals in the area to see what our capacity is given the complexity and the volume of patients who could arrive.”

Authorities have appealed for people to stay away from the crash site and allow rescue workers to move freely.