Chapecoense vows to rebuild again

The first bodies were expected to be flown back from Colombia, where they are being identified, later this week.

“It’s hard to keep going”, she said.

Of the 77 people on board, 71 died in the the crash, and one of six survivors later died in hospital.

The charter flight took off from Bolivia’s Viru Viru International Airport in Santa Cruz at 6:18 p.m. local time, according to air controller Manuel Palamas.

The control tower immediately told the pilot that he had an open runway, Efe news agency reported.

Nineteen Chapecoense players, as well as a number of team officials, were killed on Tuesday when their plane came down near Medellin in Colombia, where they had been due to play the first leg of their Copa Sudamericana final against Atletico Nacional.

“As far as we are concerned”, the team said, “Chapecoense will forever be the champions of the Copa Sudamericana Cup 2016”.

Almost 50,000 people, many dressed in white or wearing T-shirts featuring both teams’ logos, joined in chants for the Brazilian team and held flowers.

The Brazilian Football Federation (CFB) has called for seven days of mourning with the final round of Serie A games, which pits Chapecoense against fourth-placed Atletico Mineiro, having been postponed.

Soccer teams and fans from around the world expressed solidarity with the club.

Chapecoense’s opponents, Atletico Nacional of Medellin, asked for the tournament to be awarded to the Brazilians in honour of the dead.

Other clubs in Brazil’s top league are offering to loan players to Chapecoense, with a proposal that the modest club in deep southern Brazil is guaranteed to stay in the top division for the next three years. And Alan Ruschel underwent spinal surgery but has been able to move him upper and lower limbs. Teammates Helio Zampier and Jakson Follmann also suffered multiple trauma injuries, and doctors had to amputate Follmann’s right leg.

Chapecoense have vowed to get back on their feet and play again next season after a plane crash in Colombia wiped out nearly the entire squad.

There were only six survivors – three players, two Bolivian crew members and one Brazilian journalist. Despite apparently limited experience, the airline has a close relationship with several premier South American soccer squads.

Just like most teams travelling long distances by air, Chapecoense were using a plane run by a charter company.

But on the same day on which the game was scheduled, thousands mobilised in the ground to pay their respects to the Brazilian side in Medellin. The Avro RJ85 jet’s maximum range was 2,965 kilometers (1,600 nautical miles).

At what would have been kick-off time in the Cup final, the faces and names of those who died in the plane crash were shown on the screen.

The club is planning an open wake at their stadium, a city official said.

Bolivian civil aviation chief Cesar Varela told reporters “the crew had their licenses in order”.

“It’s very sad for soccer, for their families, for all of us – we’re brothers in this sport”, said Elder Ortega, 52, sitting on the upper level of the stadium above a banner reading “Soccer has no borders”. The full investigation could take months.

“We have to fight to try to rebuild a team that will be as good and to keep going”.