Soccer airplane tragedy

UPDATE: 11:20 p.m.

A chartered plane carrying a Brazilian soccer team to the biggest match in its history crashed into a Colombian hillside and broke into pieces, killing 75 people and leaving six survivors, officials said Tuesday.

The British Aerospace 146 short-haul plane, operated by a charter airline with roots in Venezuela, declared an emergency and lost radar contact just before 10 p.m. Monday because of an electrical failure, according to Colombia's aviation agency.

The aircraft, which had departed from Santa Cruz, Bolivia, was carrying the Chapecoense soccer team from southern Brazil for Wednesday's first leg of a two-game Copa Sudamericana final against Atletico Nacional of Medellin.

"What was supposed to be a celebration has turned into a tragedy," Medellin Mayor Federico Gutierrez said from the search and rescue command centre.

As the depth of what is Colombia's deadliest air tragedy in two decades sank in, sportsmanship prevailed and Atletico Nacional asked that the title of the continent's second-most important club championship be given to its up-and-coming rival, whose fairy tale run had electrified soccer-crazed Brazil.

Expressions of grief poured in from all over the soccer world. South America's federation cancelled all scheduled matches in a show of solidarity, Real Madrid's squad interrupted its training for a minute of silence and Argentina legend Diego Maradona sent his condolences to the victims' families over Facebook.

Rescuers working through the night were initially heartened after pulling three passengers alive from the wreckage. But as the hours passed, heavy rainfall and low visibility grounded helicopters and slowed efforts to reach the crash site.

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 manoeuvr to land on the crest of the Andes mountains. The plane's fuselage appeared to have broken into two upon hitting the mountain top, with the nose facing downward into a steep valley.

Images broadcast on local television showed three passengers on stretchers and connected to an IV arriving at a hospital in ambulances. Among the survivors, Chapecoense defender Alan Ruschel was in the most serious condition, and was later transported to another facility to undergo surgery for a spinal fracture. His teammates Helio Zampier and Jakson Follmann also suffered multiple trauma injuries, hospital officials said. A journalist travelling with the team was recovering from surgery and two Bolivian crew members who survived were in stable condition.

---

UPDATE: 8:35 a.m.

Doctors at several hospitals are working to stabilize the six survivors of a plane crash that killed 75 people near Medellin, Colombia. All the injured suffered severe trauma injuries.

Hospital officials say Chapecoense player Alan Ruschel appears to be in the most delicate condition. He's suffered a spinal fracture. Ruschel was stabilized at the San Juan de Dios hospital and transferred by ambulance to the intensive care unit of better-equipped facility, where he's awaiting surgery.

San Juan de Dios medical director Guillermo Leon says defender Helio Zampier arrived shortly after dawn and is in stable condition with skull and chest injuries.

A third player, Jakson Follmann, is at another facility and being evaluated for multiple unspecified injuries.

Journalist Rafael Valmorbida is recovering from surgery for chest injuries.

Bolivian crew members Ximena Suarez and Erwin Tumiri are listed in stable condition and recovering.

Colombian aviation authorities say 21 journalists were among the 81 passengers. Only one of the journalists is listed as surviving.

---

ORIGINAL: 6:25 a.m.

Colombia's civil aviation agency says at least six people have survived a plane crash that killed more than 70 people, including many members of a Brazilian soccer team.

The agency statement says at least three Chapecoence players, two plane crew members and one journalist survived Monday's crash near the city of Medellin.

Reports about the number of survivors have varied overnight because of confusion amid the emergency.

Chapecoense was travelling on a chartered flight to play Colombian club Atletico Nacional in the Copa Sudamericana final when the plane crashed.

Bolivian authorities say that the plane took off from Santa Cruz and was owned by a Venezuelan company.

Cesar Torrico, a spokesman for Bolivia's civil aviation agency, said the aircraft had arrived earlier in the day from the city of Cochabamba and picked up the Brazilian team at Santa Cruz's Viru Viru airport. Torrico said that the plane underwent an inspection before departing for Colombia and reported no problems.

He said that the LaMia airline hails from the Venezuelan city of Merida but later re-established itself in Santa Cruz. He said the airline had been used in the past to shuttle several Bolivian teams as well as Medellin's Atletico Nacional for matches around South America.