Small Brazilian city prepares to bury soccer crash victims

Photo provided by Brazil’s Presidency shows soldiers carrying caskets of the members of the Brazilian soccer team Chapecoense who were killed in an air crash in Colombia, at the Chapeco Airport in Chapeco, Brazil, on December 3, 2016.

Some 100,000 people were expected at the stadium on Saturday – about half of the city’s population.

The Lamia Air Avro RJ 85 crashed in hills close to Medellin after apparently running out of fuel.

Hundreds of people lined the streets of the funeral procession through Chapeco, which will end with a memorial at the club’s stadium. “We want them to know that a resilient community finds solace by standing together in a time of tragedy, and they are not standing alone”.

Glenn Burris, president of Foursquare in the USA, posted a message on social media confirming the death of some church leaders from Chapeco, Brazil along with other church members. “It was only due to the competence of the Colombian people that we have six survivors”.

Packed to capacity, the stadium where Chapecoense Real was thrilling their fans just 10 days ago held an anguished tribute to the 50 players, coaches and staff whose coffins were laid out on the pitch. “We learned that a resilient community finds solace by standing together in a time of tragedy”.

The only other of his compatriots to survive was fellow flight attendant Ximena Suarez, who remains in hospital in a stable condition. Members of the team and a group of journalists perished on a chartered flight earlier in the week.

The coffins, covered with white flags bearing the shield of the team from Chapeco, were received on the airfield by members of the Colombian Air Force on Friday, reports Efe.

Chapecoense, a club that had risen through the Brazilian league system over the last four years, had been heading to the Colombia city for the first-leg of the Copa Sudamericana final against Atletico Nacional on Wednesday.

The Bolivia-based charter company, LAMIA, had its permit suspended Thursday, and the government there ordered an investigation into its operations.

The Brazilian delegation made a decision to take a flight from Sao Paolo, Brazil, to Santa Cruz de la Sierra in Bolivia and then continue on a LaMia charter flight to Columbia.

A huge memorial service has been held for the victims of the deadly plane crash which wiped out a Brazilian football team. It was meant to be one of the scrappy team’s finest moments, after rising through the ranks from fourth division to A-listers in Brazil’s competitive regional soccer leagues.

The members of a Brazilian football club who tragically died in a plane crash have taken their final journey home. The bodies of the Brazilian victims will be repatriated later Friday on three flights to Chapeco, the soccer team’s hometown.

The original intention was to receive the soccer team as champions.