Brazilian football team Chapecoense aboard the British Aerospace 146 faced a tragic fate as the chartered plane crashed Monday night. The team was on their way to Medellin to face Atletico Nacional in the Copa Sudamerica finals.
The plane crash resulted to the death of 75 individuals out of the 81 people onboard. The plane was carrying players, coaches, invited guests and journalists.
Details on the injury sustained by the survivors were released. Players Jackson Follman, Alan Ruschel and Helio Hermito Zampier Neto were reported to have survived. Among the crew members, two were confirmed to be alive - flight attendant Ximena Suarez and flight crew member Erwin Tumiri. They were rushed to a regional hospital along with journalist Rafael Valmorbida.
Player Marcos Danilo Padilha, who was initially counted among the survivors after being rescued from the site, unfortunately died while being attended to by paramedics.
The plane, which took off from Bolivia, declared an emergency around 10:00 p.m. as it was flying over the town of La Union. Not long after, it crashed on a mountainous area in the Antioquian municipality, 22 miles from the airport.
Colombia President Juan Manuel Santos activated the country's emergency management system in response to the situation. Authorities of the nearby city of Rionegro continue to coordinate the search and rescue of survivors. However, rescue efforts have been hampered by bad weather.
Although the authorities are yet to confirm the cause of the crash, there has been speculations that there may have been an electrical fault or that the plane ran out of fuel.
UK's Air Accidents Investigation Branch has already sent a team of inspectors to the crash site.
In relation to this tragic event, the Copa Sudamericana final and all federation activities have been suspended until further notice.
Hundreds of fans are in deep grief after the tragic news broke. Brazil has declared three days of national mourning.
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