Brazil football team Chapecoense in Colombia plane crash

[davieG]

plane carrying 81 people, including a top Brazilian football team, has crashed on its approach to the city of Medellin in Colombia, officials say.

Reports say there are six survivors. The plane reported electrical problems.

The chartered aircraft, flying from Bolivia, was carrying members of the Chapecoense football team, airport officials said.

The team was due to play in the final of the Copa Sudamericana, against Medellin team Atletico Nacional.

The first leg of the final of the cup, South America's second most important club competition, was scheduled for Wednesday, but has now been suspended.

The team, from the southern city of Chapeco, was promoted to Brazil's first division in 2014 and reached the final last week after a victory against Argentina's San Lorenzo.

Reports say the British Aerospace 146 short-haul plane, operated by Bolivian charter airline Lamia and carrying 72 passengers and nine crew, crashed in a mountainous area outside the city shortly before midnight local time (05:00 GMT).

According to an airport press release, it was reporting an electrical fault to the control tower.

 

Medellin's Mayor Federico Gutierrez described it as "a tragedy of huge proportions".

The Jose Maria Cordova de Rionegro airport, which serves Medellin, posted on its Twitter account: "Confirmed, the aircraft licence number CP2933 was carrying the team @ChapecoenseReal. Apparently there are survivors."

It later said in a statement that "all possible aid was being mobilised because six survivors are being reported".

Poor weather has meant that the crash site is only accessible by land.

However, there was no fire on impact, which has given rescuers hope that more survivors may be found.

Chapecoense football team

Founded in 1973.

Promoted to the Brazilian top division, Serie A, for the first time in the club's history in 2014. Currently ninth.

Were flying to play in the final of the Copa Sudamericana - winner qualifies for Copa Libertadores, top continental competition in South America.

Based in the Brazilian city of Chapeco in the state of Santa Catarina.

[stripeyfox]

Latest from Aviation Herald: (usually a good source for air accidents)

 

A LAMIA Bolivia Avro RJ-85, registration CP-2933 performing flight LMI-2933 from Santa Cruz (Bolivia) to Medellin (Colombia) with 72 passengers and 9 crew, was descending towards Medellin about 15-20nm southeast of Medellin in the area of La Ceja (Colombia) at 21:56L (02:56Z Nov 29th) when the aircraft disappeared from radar screens. The Airport of Medellin reported a search was initiated and the crash site has been located, there may be survivors.

In a press release the Airport of Medellin reported further, that the aircraft had declared emergency with Medellin's Control Tower at 22:00L reporting electrical problems.

Colombia's Air Force have deployed search and rescue forces, the crash site located between La Ceja and Medellin is only accessible by land, helicopters can not operate due to low visibility due to fog. 

National Police reports 6 survivors.

Emergency services reported the aircraft did not catch fire increasing the chances of survivors. There may be up to 10 survivors.

Two players are already in hospital care in La Ceja.

Colombia's Civil Aviation Authority confirmed flight LMI-2933 arriving from Bolivia crashed in the municipality of El Ceja. CAA staff including the director of the CAA have been dispatched to Medellin's Rio Negro Airport and have established a command post to address the situation. The aircraft had requested a priority landing, subsequently contact with the aircraft was lost.

The last transponder data were received from the aircraft at 02:56Z as the aircraft descended through FL155 about 11nm southsoutheast of Medellin's Rio Negro Airport.

The aircraft was carrying the Brazilian soccer team of Chapecoense to play the finals of Copa Sudamericana 2016 in Medellin. The finals were suspended indefinitely as result of the crash

[stripeyfox]

Early comments on AVherald point to fuel exhaustion as the flight time 4hr37m is at the very upper limits of the aircraft's range.

 

Relatively low speed crash, no post crash fire may increase chances of survival

 

Rescue effort hampered by fog - crash happened around midnight local time.

 

 

[stripeyfox]

BBC reporting 76 persons of the 81 on board are dead.

 

Terrible news. 

 

[lgfualol]

Jesus christ, absolute nightmare. 

 

Thoughts will be with their families today. 

[Jattdogg]

Horrible news to wake up to. cant imagine how the families are feeling right nowforget about football for a minute. tragic.

 

3 players survived apparently. lets hope others are found alive by some sort of miracle

[TiffToff88]

Some Colombian news outlets are suggesting a 4th player, defender Zampier Neto has also survived. It seems that they're assuming anyone they haven't found yet has died, hopefully more survivors will be discovered

[foxy boxing]

unbelievable news but shows that life is precious and sometimes things happen and we should never take things for granted.condolences to the families and to everyone involved in this tragedy

[stripeyfox]

Can you imagine if this hapened to one of our top flight teams? I mean they all fly practically everywhere and although the odds of an accident are tiny, there's always a chance.

 

 

[TiffToff88]

12 minutes ago, stripeyfox said:

Can you imagine if this hapened to one of our top flight teams? I mean they all fly practically everywhere and although the odds of an accident are tiny, there's always a chance.

 

 

I think the reason its hit hard is that Chapecoense are a similar team to Leicester, with a similar rise through the leagues and a similar level of recent success to ours (without the league title win).

 

Its the exact Brazilian equivilant of the Leicester team crashing on the way to a Champions League game. And that's a horrifying thought.

[Nick]

24 minutes ago, TiffToff88 said:

Some Colombian news outlets are suggesting a 4th player, defender Zampier Neto has also survived. It seems that they're assuming anyone they haven't found yet has died, hopefully more survivors will be discovered

Not gonna happen I don't think - they have all accounted for apparently from those on board.

 

They've also called off recovery and investigation for the moment as they are having trouble accessing the crash site. 

[Samilktray]

The goalkeeper Danilo who initially survived has died

[stripeyfox]

Apparently 19 of 22 first team players on the flight have been killed in the crash

[Samilktray]

What do the football club do in this situation? How do you replace a whole team like that or do they fold. I can't imagine they'd have masses of money to buy a whole squad of players 

[stripeyfox]

Just now, Samilktray said:

What do the football club do in this situation? How do you replace a whole team like that or do they fold. I can't imagine they'd have masses of money to buy a whole squad of players 

Best guess would be that once they feel able to play again, they are "loaned" players from the other teams in the league in order to complete their season.

 

But this is practically unprecidented in the modern game, so who knows? You'd assume that the club would be insured against a catastrophic event like this?

 

 

[Finnegan]

3 minutes ago, Samilktray said:

What do the football club do in this situation? How do you replace a whole team like that or do they fold. I can't imagine they'd have masses of money to buy a whole squad of players 

 

Take on youth players and free transfers I guess.

 

Unbelievably gutting though.

 

 

[TiffToff88]

What did Man U do after the Munich disaster? I'd imagine there are some sort of protocols in place to cover such events?

[Dan]

What an absolutely horrible story to wake up to. Such a blow to so many.

[Dan]

16 minutes ago, Samilktray said:

What do the football club do in this situation? How do you replace a whole team like that or do they fold. I can't imagine they'd have masses of money to buy a whole squad of players 

I thought the same. I don't know how you as a club recover from that.

[goose2010]

Its abolsutely shocking there is a picture of the 3 players that didnt travel due to injuries or suspensions in the changing rooms. What kind of feelings are they going through? One hand you are lucky to be alive on the other you've just lost basically your footballing family in one go, its hard enough losing 1 mate let alone that many absolutely tragic.

 

Couldn't imagine it happening to Leicester honestly dont know what would happen as it wouldnt be the same even if they just brought a load of new players.

[Brainy]

Not really the point but I think there's only a couple of games remaining in their domestic league so they have a while to recover

[Wymsey]

If I were a wealthy owner of a rival club that has seen a domestic league competitor caught in this tragic situation, I would give them a helping hand financially and offer some of the fringe players to move to the club for free to try and do their bit in assisting the club.

The league will probably get cancelled quite rightly or something now.

[LanguedocFox]

2 hours ago, TiffToff88 said:

I think the reason its hit hard is that Chapecoense are a similar team to Leicester, with a similar rise through the leagues and a similar level of recent success to ours (without the league title win).

 

Its the exact Brazilian equivilant of the Leicester team crashing on the way to a Champions League game. And that's a horrifying thought.

 

Exactly: this is from The Guardian's report about the team:

 

It is not surprising that a team punching so far above their weight had been the subject of comparisons with the Premier League champions, Leicester City. Indeed, this was a link that the coach, Caio Júnior, was keen to embrace back in September. “Our team really reminds me of Leicester, a team from an unfancied city that was able to win an important title,” he said after a league win over Fluminense. “I want to make a mark this season with this club, this group of players.”

 

It really brings it close to home.

[LanguedocFox]

34 minutes ago, TiffToff88 said:

What did Man U do after the Munich disaster? I'd imagine there are some sort of protocols in place to cover such events?

Actually, I am old enough to remember.

 

There was some thought that Man U would not survive as a club, although only for a couple of days. They were allowed to postpone matches for about three weeks, during which time they signed some players and borrowed a few more. But most of their team was made up of youth-team players, plus a few players who had survived the crash. From memory, they won their first match after the postponements, but didn't win another league match for the rest of the season. They did get to the FA Cup Final though, and lost to Bolton Wanderers.

 

[Ross-Kemp]

Nacional (the opponents) have apparently offered to concede the game and give Chapecense the trophy.

 

The photo of the 3 players is heartbreaking