A charter plane carrying 72 passengers and 9 crew, including players from a Brazilian soccer team headed for a championship match, has crashed en route to Medillin’s airport in Colombia.
The aircraft was carrying members of the Chapecoense Real soccer team, based in southern Brazil, for the finals of the Copa Sudamerica against Atletico Nacional of Medellin. The first match was scheduled for Wednesday in Medellin, according to Colombia’s aviation authority, Aerocivil. That match has now been postponed, the Washington Post reports with reference to the authorities.
The aircraft, a British Aerospace short-haul plane operated by a Bolivian charter company, went down near the town of La Unión, according to Colombian officials, about 53 miles from the Medellin airport.
The AP reported that the plane declared an emergency about 10 p.m. Monday local time due to an electrical failure.
Poor weather conditions made the crash site accessible only by road, airport authorities at Medellin, where the plane was scheduled to land, said on Twitter.
Rescue teams, from firefighters to disaster management officials, have been pressed into the search for survivors.
Atletico Nacional, Chapecoense's opponents in the next leg of the regional cup, have tweeted to say they are "profoundly sorry" to hear of the accident.
According to the local news site mioriente.com at least 10 people are currently receiving treatment at the scene.
The Jose Maria Cordova de Rionegro airport, which serves Medellin, said in a statement that "all possible aid was being mobilized because six survivors are being reported."
Defender Alan Ruschel has been rescued alive from the wreckage of his plane and is now being treated in hospital. The 27-year-old was on loan from Brazilian side Sport Club Internacional, based in Porto Alegre. He was taken by ambulance to La Ceja Hospital. He is understood to have suffered a broken hip and head injuries, the Mirror reports.
