Pilot in Colombia crash said was out of fuel

Seventy-one people were killed, including players of the Chapecoense AF football club, who were en route to the biggest game in their history: the Copa Sudamericana final.

Authrities have not confirmed the authenticity of the recording played by Colombian broadcasters.

The plane that crashed in Colombia virtually wiping out an entire Brazilian soccer team was running out of fuel, had no electrical power, and was preparing for an emergency landing, according to the pilot’s final words.

In the sometimes chaotic exchange with the air traffic tower, the pilot of the British-built jet requests permission to land because of “fuel problems” without making a formal distress call.

The request was granted by the control tower at Medellin’s worldwide airport.

The dead also included 20 Brazilian journalists travelling to cover the match.

Chapecoense had been flying in to face Atletico Nacional of Medellin in the first leg of Wednesday’s Copa Sudamericana final, South America’s equivalent of the Europa League. A full investigation is expected to take months and will review everything from the 17-year-old aircraft’s flight and maintenance history to the voice and instruments data in the black boxes retrieved Tuesday at the crash site on a muddy hillside.

“Miss, Lima-Mike-India 2933 it’s in failure, uh, total. electrical and fuel [failure]”.

A Colombian military source told AFP: “It is very suspicious that despite the impact there was no explosion. That reinforces the theory of the lack of fuel”. “It’s a decision that the pilot takes”, Vargas told reporters in Santa Cruz, Bolivia.

“He thought the fuel would last”.

And, on Monday night, Chapecoense’s first-choice ‘keeper Danilo, whose heroics in the semi-finals had helped them book their place in the Copa Sudamericana final, was one of the people pulled out alive from the wreckage of that plane crash in Colombia but, sadly, he lost the battle for his life shortly after being admitted at hospital.

Brazilian president Michael Temer said authorities are mobilizing to help the team and families of the victims. “It will reveal everything”, said Colombian Transport Minister Jorge Eduardo Rojas.

The Colombian Civil Aviation Authority declined to comment further on technical details. “Everything was in order”.

Yet in the darkest of times, Chapecoense itself says it’s up to its city, its fans and the country to focus on the future.

The Chapecoense club is so modest that tournament organizers ruled its 22,000-seat stadium was too small to host the concluding match of the two-game final and moved it to a stadium 300 miles (480 kilometers) to the city of Curitiba. “We would meet (the players) in the street”, said teacher Aline Fonseca, 21. Forensic experts have said that that process is going quickly because the crash did not include a fire. “The city is devastated”.

Both stadiums were packed to capacity.

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.

Along with the outpouring from fans, Chapecoense has received support from many of their largest rivals in Brazil. Special funds have also been set up.

Many clubs, including Spanish giants Barcelona and Real Madrid, observed a minute’s silence before training on Tuesday.

“I have just seen the plane and given the state it is in, it is a miracle that six people survived”, said Governor Luis Perez of Antioquia department, where the plane went down.

“We do know there was no fire when the plane impacted the ground, which may be one of the reasons why there are survivors from this awful tragedy”, said Geoffrey Thomas, editor-in-chief of Airlineratings.com. He said “the government will do everything possible to alleviate the pain” of the family members of the players and the journalists who died in the crash.