Aircraft Carrying Soccer Players From Brazil Crashes

CONMEBOL, the South American football confederation, has suspended “all activities” until further notice.

Corinthians, as well as several other high-profile Brazilian clubs, have offered to loan players to the club without any fees during 2017.

A Brazilian goalie critically injured in the Colombian plane crash used his final moments to make a gut-wrenching phone call to his wife.

The airplane took off from Sao Paulo, Brazil’s Guarulhos International Airport Monday, according to The Associated Press.

The Aeronautica Civil government agency in Colombia confirmed six survivors of the crash: two crew members, three athletes and one journalist.

The soccer club, which has risen the ranks in Brazilian soccer and has a devoted national fan base, was set to play in the first leg of the South American Cup finals Wednesday.

The president of Brazil, Michel Temer, has declared three days of mourning.

The crash prompted an outpouring of solidarity and grief on social media from the footballing community, with Brazilian top flight teams Flamengo and Santos tweeting messages of support.

Colombian police initially said five people survived the crash, but later updated that figure to six.

“This is a minimal gesture of solidarity that is now within our reach, but endowed with the most honest goal of rebuilding this institution and part of Brazilian football that was lost”. The plane has been in the hands of Bolivian airline LAMIA since October 2013.

The charter plane of Bolivian company LAMIA, which left from the Bolivian city of Santa Cruz, declared an emergency at around 10:00 pm Monday (0300 GMT Tuesday). He noted that air distance between cities is usually measured by the shortest route but planes rarely fly in a straight line, with pilots steering around turbulence or changing course for other reasons.

It crashed at around 10 p.m. ET on Monday while on its way from Santa Cruz in Bolivia to Medellin’s global airport.

Reporter Pablo Medina Uribe spoke with NPR’s Morning Edition and said it’s still not clear why the plane went down, although some are speculating it may have run out of fuel.

Global football figures lamented the tragic accident. “Thoughts are with @ChapecoenseReal and their family and friends”. “You are immortal”, Barcelona and Argentina striker Lionel Messi wrote on Twitter.

In England, a minute’s silence was observed before EFL Cup quarter-final matches on Tuesday between Liverpool and Leeds, and Hull and Newcastle.

Global soccer stars have paid tributes, social media users have offered a steady outpouring of grief, and rival team Atletico Nacional have asked that Chapecoense be awarded the Sudamericana Cup.

“After being very anxious about the human part we thought about the competitive aspect and we want to publish this statement in which Atletico Nacional ask Conmebol to give the title of Copa Sudamericana be given to the Chapecoense as an honorary award for this great loss, and in posthumous homage to the victims of the fatal accident that impute our sport”.