Seychelles’ president sends condolences to Brazil after plane crash

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.

Six people miraculously survived the crash Monday night, but the disaster virtually wiped out an up-and-coming Brazilian football team and sent shock waves through the world of football.

It lowered an initial death toll of 75 given by the civil aviation authority after it emerged that four people on the passenger manifest had not in fact boarded the plane. “People will only believe once the bodies start to arrive”. The coach’s son also did not travel with the team as planned because he forgot his passport. The Colombian team wants the trophy to be given to Chapecoense in honor of the dead.

Flight attendant Ximena Suárez is stable condition, while flight technician Erwin Tumiri suffered non-life-threatening injuries, according to Colombian hospital Clinica Somer.

Flamengo, Palmeiras and Sao Paulo are the clubs to have offered help.

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

This particular plane has often been the mode of transport for South American football teams often in the past. They last week made it to the Copa Sudamericana final – the equivalent of the UEFA Europa League – after defeating Argentina’s San Lorenzo. “At the same time, wishing an early recovery for the survivors”.

Remarkably, the crash had six survivors. These, along with the lack of an explosion upon impact, point to a rare case of fuel running out as a cause of the crash of the airliner, which experts say was flying at its maximum range. Both flight recorders have been recovered.

The journalists killed included six employees from the Brazilian affiliate of Fox Sports television.

Rescue workers stand at the wreckage site of a chartered airplane that crashed in a mountainous area outside Medellin, Colombia, Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2016. Priority had already been given to a plane from airline VivaColombia, which had also reported problems, Upegui said.

Atletico Nacional, who were to be Chapecoense’s opponents in the Copa Sudamericana final, requested that the Brazilian club be awarded the title.

The South American confederation CONMEBOL said it “greatly regrets what happened” and suspended Wednesday’s game and all the federation’s activities. Fans also walked from the town centre to the stadium where they sang and prayed.

And as the club began the mourning process they posted a touching video on their Facebook page of the players celebrating their victory in the semi final of the Copa Sudamericana, with the caption: “Let this be the last image of our warriors”. Samantha Power, United States ambassador to the United Nations, called the team a “Cinderella dream” that ended “tragically”.