20 journalists among 71 dead in Colombia plane crash

The aircraft reported electrical problems and declared an emergency minutes earlier as it neared its destination, according to Medellin airport officials.

Poor weather conditions had been reported at the time of the crash.

“This morning I said goodbye to them and they told me they were going after the dream, turning that dream into reality”, Plínio David de Nes Filho, chairman of the Chapecoense club, told reporters.

Ohio State University officials give an update on the vehicle and knife attack that placed nine pedestrians in the hospital after a male suspect rammed into them with a auto and slashed at them with a butcher knife early Monday morning on November 25, 2016.

The plane broke apart on impact in the remote mountains of Cerro Gordo, leaving the shattered white fuselage plastered on a hillside.

The Serie A side was scheduled to play the first leg of the Copa Sudamericana final against Atletico Nacional on Wednesday at Medellin’s Estadio Atanasio Girardot.

Brazil legend Pele, considered by many to be one of the greatest players of all time, said: “The Brazilian football family is in mourning”.

“The news we received this morning is very sad”. In truth, we never expected this. This wasn’t just a group of people who respected each other professionally. It still doesn’t seem real. “Only God can give us strength”. It is hard. It is so hard to speak.

‘I also saw how many passengers rose and began to scream’.

Brazilian soccer team Chapecoense, heading for the biggest game in their history, were on board a plane carrying 81 people that crashed in Colombia killing 76 people, police said on Tuesday.

The group was among the 21 journalists covering the Chapecoense team from southern Brazil and its upcoming South American Cup match in Medellin, Colombia.

In Brazil, the public was left reeling from news of the crash.

Chapacoense fan Marcos Vinicius spoke to Al Jazeera. It started playing with elite Brazilian teams in 2014, the article noted, “and has not been relegated since, another rare feat as novice teams are likely to head back” to the B division “in the blink of an eye”.

The team aboard Flight LMI-2933 is from the small city of Chapeco – which has a population of about 200,000.

Ruschel was among those pulled alive from the wreckage of the plane which crashed as the players travelled to Medellin to face Atlecico Nacional in the Copa Sudamerica final.

Investigators have located the critical flight recorders from the chartered jetliner that crashed in the mountains of Colombia Tuesday, killing 71 people – including almost all of a Brazilian soccer team.

The plane’s black boxes have been recovered from the scene and an investigation into the cause of the crash has been launched.