Plane carrying Brazil’s Chapecoense soccer team crashes

A plane carrying a Brazilian football team crashed in the mountains in Colombia, killing an estimated 75 people while six survived, including several players, officials said on Tuesday.

A chartered aircraft with 81 people on board, including the Chapecoense soccer team which was heading to Colombia for a regional tournament final, crashed on its way to Medellin’s worldwide airport.

Atletico Nacional, the Colombian side who were scheduled to face Chapecoense in the Copa Sudamericana final, have reportedly asked that their opponents be awarded the title. Of the 81 passengers on board, consisting of players, coaches, staff and journalists, only six are reported to have survived. Colombian police said there were some survivors.

“At this hard time our thoughts are with the victims, their families and friends”.

The news about the Chapecoenese soccer team, whose plane crashed in Bolivia on Monday night, has shaken the sports world.

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

Chapecoense had reached the final by beating Argentina’s San Lorenzo over two legs in the semi-finals, which concluded last week.

The team, from the small city of Chapeco, was in the middle of a fairy tale season. In addition, Marca is reporting that the sixth survivor to be found is Chapecoense defender Helio Neto. Almeida used to work for TV Global in Brazil, which she said had at least 10 employees on the flight Tuesday. Rain and thunderstorms fell throughout Monday evening, but it is not yet clear if the weather played a factor in the crash. Now in the top division, the club had been playing in division four in 2009.

They were the first Brazilian team in three years to make it to the final but their football fairytale has now ended in the most tragic of circumstances. A new date has not been set.

Brazilian president Michel Temer said military planes have been made available for victims’ relatives to travel to Colombia and for the transfer of the bodies back home. A chartered aircraft with passengers including players from Chapecoense, heading to Colombia for a regional tournament final, has crashed on its way to Medellin’s global airport in Colombia, Medellin’s Mayor Federico Gutierrez and Medellin’s airport said Tuesday, Nov. 29. “What they have achieved in the last couple of years was just fantastic”.

Daniel De Stefani, 33, came to Toronto from his hometown of Criciuma, Brazil, three years ago and he continued to follow his favourite teams from here.