Plane crash in Colombia kills 75 people; sixth survivor found under wreckage

Colombian rescue crews worked in the dark, using flashlights in the heavy rain and mountainous terrain.

“Now we’re going to do this new trip and we hope they bring us good luck like they did the first time”, athletic director Mauro Stumpf told Gigavision TV. “I thought it wasn’t real”.

Colombia’s civilian aviation authority has confirmed the names of the six people who somehow managed to survive this frightful plane crash.

Chapecoense is widely regarded as one of the minnows of Brazilian club football, having been founded relatively recently in 1973 in the city of Chapeco in southern Santa Catarina state.

Global players and teams alike, including Barcelona stars Neymar and Lionel Messi, sent messages of condolence to the families of the victims.

Chapecoense defender Alan Ruschel, 27, is now in stable condition after being pulled from the plane’s wreckage, said Alfredo Bocanegra, head of Colombia’s civil aeronautics agency. “The only thing I can ask is prayers for the companions who were on the flight”. “It leaves a sense of anguish, thinking this could also happen to them”.

Wednesday’s final was cancelled and all games scheduled for the upcoming week in Brazil were postponed.

“We are hurt for all that it meant – the illusion of this young team that were coming here with the challenge of playing the match of their lives, of their glory, for all the significance of their club’s history”.

A surviving flight attendant said the plane ran out of fuel about five minutes before its expected landing at the airport, according to The Associated Press. It qualified to play in the South American Cup for the first time in 2015, though it lost in the quarterfinals to Argentinian team River Plate.

Toronto journalist Marta Almeida began getting calls from her former colleagues in Brazil as news of the death toll spread Wednesday.

The journalists came from several organizations, including Fox and Globo, a large Brazilian conglomerate, and a handful of FM and AM radio stations in South America.

“We are in contact with CONMEBOL, local authorities and representatives of the clubs in search of more information, before any possible measures regarding the progress of Brazilian football”.

“Six people were rescued alive, but unfortunately one died”.

Of the players, goalkeeper Jackson Follmann was recovering from the amputation of his right leg, doctors said.

Federation Internationale de Football Association said on Twitter its “thoughts were with the victims, their families, fans of Chapecoense and media organisations in Brazil on this tragic day”. “I’m sure people there are devastated”.

Six people were reported to have survived the crash, including a 25-year-old player, the mayor of a town near the crash site said, without identifying him.