On the night of November 29, a regional airliner carrying players from the Brazilian club Chapecoense crashed in Colombia. Club employees and journalists were also on board. 76 people died, five more were taken to hospital by rescuers.
The plane crashed for an unknown reason before reaching 30 kilometers from Medellin airport in Colombia.
The airliner LMI2933 took off from Bolivian Santa Cruz de la Sierra at 18:18 pm on November 28 local time (1:18 Moscow time). In five hours (6:00 Moscow time) the pilots reported dispatchers about problems on board related to power supply. The airport cleared the runway for an emergency landing, and the plane began flying in circles to run out of fuel, according to FlightRadar24 data.
Another 15 minutes later the plane crashed near the city of La Union. It broke into two pieces when it hit the ground. What exactly caused the disaster is unknown. Rescuers have not yet found the flight recorders; Search efforts have been suspended due to heavy rain. It is possible that the plane may have run out of fuel.
Almost the entire Chapecoense football team died in the disaster.
The Brazilian club was flying to Medellin for the final match of the Copa Sudamericana, in which Chapecoense was to meet the Colombian Atlético Nacional. There were 22 football players on the plane. In addition, there were 25 more club representatives on board (coaches, doctors, managers), as well as data Caracol Radio, three “friends of the club”. 22 journalists flew with Chapecoense to the match. According to the latest data, 76 people died.
Five people survived
Rescuers took four passengers and a flight attendant to the hospital. The condition of the two victims is assessed as stable, the surviving football player Alan Ruschel is conscious. In addition to Ruschel, goalkeepers Marcos Danilo and Jackson Folman survived the crash. Brazilian journalist Rafael Hensel also managed to escape. The only survivor of the crew was flight attendant Ximena Suarez.
The Civil Aviation Authority also reported that flight engineer Erwin Tumiri survived the crash. Local media learned, that defender Elio Neto could also survive the fall. Officially, the police reported that only five people survived, and another victim died on the way to the hospital.
The team should not have been on this flight
According to El Tiempo, shortly before departure, the Brazilian Civil Aviation Authority banned Chapecoense from chartering to Medellin, forcing the team to book a commercial flight.
Football clubs around the world expressed their condolences to the Brazilian team
One of the first about solidarity announced at Atlético Nacional, with whom Chapecoense was flying to a match. Words of condolences came from other clubs and players, including Russian. The South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) has already announced that all games will be suspended for now.
Manchester United's thoughts are with Chapecoense and those affected by the tragedy in Colombia.
Updated:
Black boxes from crashed plane in Colombia found
The flight recorders of the plane that crashed on November 29, 30 kilometers from Medellin airport, have been found in Colombia. This was reported by the Colombian Civil Aviation Authority.
The black boxes are in good condition, the department said.
Plane that crashed in Colombia required landing due to lack of fuel
Before the disaster, the pilot of flight LMI2933 that crashed in Colombia, Miguel Quiroga, loudly demanded from air traffic controllers to land due to lack of fuel. Sources of the newspaper El Tiempo told about this.
By the time of the fall, the plane was already making its third waiting circle near the airport, since landing priority was assigned to another flight from Bogota, which had previously reported problems with its instruments.
Surviving flight attendant Jimena Suarez also spoke about the fuel shortage. However, in the official preliminary report on the crash, Colombian authorities stated that the pilot reported to dispatchers only about problems with electronics.
Rescuers also finally established the number of victims of the disaster. There were only 68 passengers on board, not 72 as previously reported. Four people missed their flight. Of the 77 passengers and crew members, seven survived the disaster; one survivor subsequently died in hospital.
Sources say the pilot of the LaMia flight, Miguel Alejandro Quiroga Murakami, continuously raised his voice and asked to land due to lack of fuel, and then directed the plane towards the airport (Spanish).EL TIEMPO
A plane carrying a Brazilian team crashed in Colombia. Main
Match TV summarizes all the information that is currently known.
Briefly
A plane carrying 77 people, including players from the Brazilian football club Chapecoense, crashed in Colombia. Four passengers canceled the flight at the last minute.
Six people survived.
Before the crash, the pilots reported electrical problems and “declared an emergency.”
Details
Yesterday at 21:56 local time in Colombia, in the La Ceja area (about 30 kilometers southeast of the city of Medellin), an RJ-85 plane with players and coaching staff of the Chapecoense team disappeared from radar. There were 72 passengers and 8 crew members on board.
In addition to the players and coaches, there were club executives, three guests and 21 journalists on the plane.
The plane was heading to Medellin, where the team was supposed to play in the first final match of the Copa Sudamericana against the local Atlético Nacional.
Survivors
Rescuers found no traces of fire at the crash site. The absence of an explosion and ignition contributed to the fact that not everyone died in the disaster.
There was initially no clear information about the casualties. According to AFP, 25 people were immediately found. 5 survivors were reported.
According to journalist Pablo Medina Uribe, three players were taken to the hospital. These are defender Alan Ruschel (he will likely be paralyzed from the waist down) and goalkeepers Marcos Danilo and Jackson Folman (leg amputee).
Alan Ruschel
https://twitter.com/EcuSport/status/803495075342909440?ref_src=twsrc^tfwMarcos Danilo
https://twitter.com/ImpactoFutbol/status/803500991240880128?ref_src=twsrc^tfw90 rescuers worked at the scene of the disaster. Due to heavy rain, work was suspended until dawn.
https://twitter.com/MiOriente/status/803509380922609664?ref_src=twsrc^tfwLater, officially confirmed information appeared.
Among the dead is the son of former CSKA physical training coach Paulo Paixao Anderson.
Goalkeeper Danilo survived the crash, but died from his injuries in hospital. Before his death, he managed to meet his wife.
The names of all survivors have become known: players Elihu Neto, Jackson Folman, Alan Ruschel, journalist Rafael Henzel, flight attendant Ximena Suarez (the least injured of all, her condition is stable) and aircraft technician Erwin Tumeri.
https://twitter.com/martinmazur/status/803536051373568002?ref_src=twsrc%5EtfwWhat happened
At 22:00 (4 minutes after the plane disappeared from radar), the plane's crew "declared an emergency" and reported "electrical problems." This happened as the plane was descending and was preparing to land in Medellin. Then contact with the plane was lost. Rescuers flew to the site of the alleged crash, but heavy fog complicated the search for the crash site.
According to Flightradar, the plane occupied a holding pattern over a mountainous area before landing and circled twice, likely due to technical problems, at an altitude of 21,000 feet (6.4 kilometers). The RJ-85 then left the holding area and began to descend. The latest data was recorded by the Flightradar service when the plane was at an altitude of 15,550 feet (4.7 km).
The tragedy happened in the morning, Moscow time, when the plane traveled most of the way to Medellin International Airport in the capital of Colombia, Bogota.
There were 81 people on board, of whom nine were crew members and 72 were passengers. Among the passengers were 27 Chapecoense football players, as well as members of the club delegation and journalists.
The exact number of victims has not been reported at the moment, and in the club’s Facebook group, fans leave messages on the wall with the hashtag “live.”
The actions of rescuers are complicated by the fact that the plane crashed in a mountainous area, but one of the Colombian hospitals has already reported the admission of five passengers who survived the accident, and then another five.
Radio station 360 Radio Colombia reported that the crew of the charter flight signaled to ground services that the fuel level was low. The pilot decided to make an emergency landing, but the plane did not reach the nearest airport and crashed in the La Union area, 37 km from its destination - the city of Medellin.
In addition, the first photos from the scene of the incident appeared online. One of them shows the emblem of the Brazilian club.
According to the latest information, from ten to 16 people survived, and among them there are definitely three Chapecoense players: Alan Ruschel, Danilo Padilla and Jackson Vollman. It is reported that at least 25 people have already become victims of the tragedy.
The dispatchers became aware that the plane's electronics had failed even before the crash after a message from the pilot, who then circled over the ground for a long time, choosing a place for an emergency landing so that the plane would not explode on contact with the ground, which helped some passengers survive.
Chapecoense was founded in 1973, is a five-time champion of the state of Santa Catarina and is currently ranked ninth in the Brazilian Football Confederation rankings.
In 2013, the club from Chapeco, finishing second in Serie B, returned to the elite national division after 35 years.
It is interesting that first place in the Serie B championship that year was taken by the most titled Brazilian club, Palmeiras, which this season, one round before the finish of the championship, scored its ninth victory in the Brazilian national championship.
It was in the match against Chapecoense, which currently occupies ninth place in the championship table, that Palmeiras won the title, winning with a score of 1:0.
Chapecoense, after returning to the elite, took first 15th and then 14th place and, at the end of the 2015 season, qualified for the second most important club tournament in South America - the Sudamericana Cup.
According to the tournament regulations, Brazilian teams will start in the second stage with confrontations with their compatriots. To get into the main draw, Chapecoense had to overcome the resistance of Cuiaba from Serie C, which was done, although not without difficulty (0:1, 3:1).
In the main round, Chapecoense first faced Argentina's Independiente and advanced to the quarter-finals after two goalless draws and a penalty shootout victory.
In the quarterfinals, the Brazilian team beat the Colombian Junior (0:1, 3:0), and then in the semifinals, thanks to an away goal, they were stronger than the Argentine San Lorenzo (1:1, 0:0).
In the final, Chapecoense was scheduled to meet another Colombian team, Atlético Nacional. The first meeting was scheduled for November 30 and was to take place in the capital of Colombia, and on December 7 the rivals were to play in Chapeco.
The fate of the final is currently unknown, but, apparently, CONMEBOL (South American Football Confederation) will cancel the confrontation, and the winner will not be revealed this year.
The most famous Chapecoense footballer is a midfielder who played for Atlético Madrid from 2007 to 2010.
The team's only foreign player, the 28-year-old Argentine, played 13 matches for the Spanish Villarreal in 2012, scoring one goal.
The team's most promising football player is a player from the Brazilian youth team, bought before the current season from Gremio by the German Hoffenheim, but loaned to Chapecoense.
Other news and materials can be viewed on the chronicles, as well as in the sports department groups on social networks
A civilian airliner carrying members of the Brazilian soccer team Chapecoense crashed in Colombia. Military expert, instructor pilot Andrey Krasnoperov told the correspondent Federal News Agency about the possible causes of the plane crash.
According to preliminary information, the civil aircraft (model and number are still unknown - editor's note) was heading from Bolivia to Medellin and disappeared from radar screens in the area of the Colombian city of Rionegro.
During the flight, the aircraft commander informed dispatchers at the nearby Medellin Cordoba airport about an acute shortage of fuel. The plane was given priority for landing, but it was never able to reach the air harbor.
“To begin with, we note that the plane flying from Bolivia may not have undergone major repairs for a long time due to its heavy workload. In addition, we do not know how the plane was maintained, so some kind of technical malfunction could have played a role. But the situation with fuel is more real here. If the plane took off with its minimum remaining, it might well not have made it. The amount of fuel must be calculated by the navigator, and if you consider that there are no such on planes now, there is only a left pilot and a right pilot, and the role of the navigator is performed by a computer, the situation becomes possible. I remember there was a case when a squadron of Tu-22 aircraft was flying, and during the flight the navigator thought that there might not be enough fuel - they just sat down. It should have been the same here,” Krasnoperov emphasized.
It was initially reported that everyone on board died during the crash. However, later, Radio 360 disseminated information that some managed to survive - rescuers found at least six survivors at the scene of the disaster. It should be noted that in Medellin the Chapecoense team was supposed to play in the first match of the Copa Sudamericana final against the Colombian Atlético Nacional. The game was scheduled for the evening of November 30th.
“If the ship’s commander reported that there was a shortage of fuel, he, of course, had to make a decision and land at the nearest airfield, but apparently they wanted to hold out, the human factor. About the same thing happened near Smolensk, when the Polish president crashed - we also had to fly to an alternate airfield. And here we have what we have. In this case, the rush factor came into play - the athletes, the football players had a game, the coach said “to get there by any means.” Landing at another airfield was not allowed, otherwise plans would be disrupted and everything else. Well, such moments happen in flight practice. When the “must” command prevails over flight safety,” the expert concluded.
Let us remind you that the Brazilian football club Chapecoense plays in the top division of the Brazilian Championship. The team captain is a midfielder Kleber Santana, who played, in particular, for Atletico Madrid.
There were 81 people and crew on board the passenger airliner that crashed in Colombia, including players from a Brazilian football club. During the search and rescue operation, survivors were found, but the exact number is not yet known.
Reports that began to emerge in the first hours after the crash gave hope. There are survivors. True, for a long time they could not give exact figures. Later the first names appeared. Thus, one of the Colombian radio stations reported that among the survivors was Alan Ruschel, a defender of the Chapecoense football team. He has a broken femur and a head injury. Goalkeeper Danilo Padilla and one of the flight attendants also survived.
“Soon the doctors will bring the surviving flight attendant, her condition is stable. It is very difficult to get to the scene of the disaster; ordinary cars will not get there. It’s great that there are survivors, there are many of them, but we can’t say exactly how many,” said one of the rescuers.
Then the information about a large number of survivors was denied by the authorities. Only six were taken to the hospital. Already in the hospital, one of the patients died. But a few hours later - again an urgent message from Colombian radio: “Authorities confirm the discovery of another survivor.” At the same time, they say that we are talking about the Brazilian football player Hélio Zampier Neto.
According to official data, 75 people were killed. In total, there were 72 passengers and nine crew members on board the crashed plane.
Here in the video footage you can see how the airliner disappears from the radar screens. The plane was heading to Medellin, Colombia's second largest city and its industrial capital. The players of the Chapecoense club flew there to play for the Copa Sudamericana with the local Atlético Nacional. The match was scheduled for tomorrow.
The footage posted on YouTube was filmed at the departure airport in the Bolivian city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra. On them the football players are preparing to land. Footage also emerged taken by survivor Alan Ruschel inside the plane. He shows the passengers sitting next to him. There is also a photo taken today in the team's locker room. It shows three football players who did not fly to the game in Colombia.
Medellin Mayor Federico Gutierrez today sent words of condolences to the families and friends of the victims.
“It is very sad to confirm such information. All that can be done now is to help the work of doctors and rescuers. This is truly a tragedy. It's hard to imagine. We want to express words of support to the families of the deceased football players from Brazil,” the mayor said
Local media say there was bad weather in the area of the disaster. According to the administration of the airport where the plane was departing, the crew reported an emergency at ten o'clock in the evening local time. It was six in the morning in Moscow at that time. The crew reported problems with electrical equipment.
