Crew member explains how he survived Chapecoense plane crash without serious injury

A charter plane carrying 81 people, including players from a rising Brazilian soccer team headed for a championship match, has crashed en route to Medillin’s airport in Colombia, according to authorities.

Military helicopters were deployed though efforts to access the area were hampered by bad weather, Acevedo said.

The South American confederation CONMEBOL said it “greatly regrets what happened” and suspended Wednesday’s game and all the federation’s activities.

The chartered flight was carrying 72 passengers and 9 crew, including members of the team and traveling journalists.

Otis says that the survivors of the crash include a Brazilian journalist and two of the players for Chapecoense.

Following the accident, matches were canceled around South America, and Brazil declared three days of mourning.

Brazil and Barcelona star Neymar and Spanish club Atletico Madrid, which counts former player Cleber Santana as one of the passengers, sent their condolences.

“I want to express my sadness for the terrible incident which has caused the death of a football team and many people who accompanied the team from Chapeco, which happened early this morning (and) is extremely sad”.

Thousands of people packed into a cathedral and the club’s stadium in the Brazilian city of Chapeco on Tuesday evening to mourn those who were killed.

Six of the eight-member Bolivian crew were killed in the crash, Bolivia’s government said.

HEARTBROKEN Neymar led the emotional tributes as football united for the 76 dead in the Colombian plane crash.

Many wearing the green shirt of the Chapecoense club brought candles and flowers to the team’s home ground as they sought information on the crash that has claimed 71 lives among the 77 onboard. Alan Ruschel was reported to be in the most serious condition, facing surgery for a spinal fracture.

Rescue workers carry the body of a victim from a plane that crashed into Colombian jungle with Brazilian soccer team Chapecoense, is seen near Medellin, Colombia, November 29, 2016.

After decades in the lower divisions, Chapecoense returned to Brazil’s top flight Serie A in 2014 for the first time since 1979.

Brazil’s top flight football teams have offered to loan players to Chapecoense for next season after the small southern club lost nearly all its players in a plane crash in Colombia.

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