{"id":28346,"date":"2016-11-30T23:30:42","date_gmt":"2016-11-30T23:30:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/en.bornomalanews.com\/?p=28346"},"modified":"2016-11-30T23:30:42","modified_gmt":"2016-11-30T23:30:42","slug":"football-mourns-brazilian-players-killed-in-air-crash-lack-of-fuel-suspected","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/en.bornomalanews.com\/?p=28346","title":{"rendered":"Football mourns Brazilian players killed in air crash, lack of fuel suspected"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"brazilfootball\"Sports desk: A plane that crashed in the mountains of Colombia, killing 71 people, including members of a Brazilian football team, may have run out of fuel, a Colombian military source told AFP.<\/p>\n

“It is very suspicious that despite the impact there was no explosion. That reinforces the theory of the lack of fuel,” the source said Tuesday.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Football legends Pele and Maradona as well as current superstars Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo led tributes to the players of Chapecoense Real, a humble team whose march to glory was cut abruptly short.<\/p>\n

Having risen only recently from obscurity, the team was on its way to play in the finals of the Copa Sudamericana, South America's second-biggest club tournament, when disaster struck.<\/p>\n

“The pain is terrible. Just as we had made it, I will not say to the top, but to have national prominence, a tragedy like this happens,” club vice-president Ivan Tozzo told Globo SporTV.<\/p>\n

“It is very difficult, a very great tragedy.”<\/p>\n

The charter plane reported “electrical failures” around 10:00 pm Monday (0300 GMT Tuesday) and crashed soon after near the city of Medellin, its destination, officials said.<\/p>\n

The plane's black box recorders have been found, but there was no word on how long it would take to analyze them.<\/p>\n

The dead included most of the team and 20 Brazilian journalists traveling to cover the match.<\/p>\n

The six survivors are being treated in hospital, officials said.<\/p>\n

“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.<\/p>\n

One survivor, goalkeeper Jackson Follmann, had to have his right leg amputated, said the San Vicente Foundation Hospital outside Medellin.<\/p>\n

It reported he was “stabilizing” in intensive care.<\/p>\n

– Spared by chance –<\/p>\n

Colombia's civil aviation authority initially said 75 people were killed. But it later emerged that four people on the passenger manifest had not boarded the plane — a club official, a journalist, the mayor of the team's hometown and the speaker of the state assembly.<\/p>\n

“It's one of those things in life. Only God knows why I ended up staying behind,” said Luciano Buligon, the mayor of Chapeco in southern Brazil.<\/p>\n

Crying, Plinio Filho, the head of the club's advisory council, recalled the players telling him they were off to “chase a dream” as they left.<\/p>\n

“The group was like a family. It was a group of friends, where everyone laughed a lot, even in defeat,” he said.<\/p>\n

– Last images –<\/p>\n

Footage of the club on board the plane before take-off aired on TV channel Gigavision in Bolivia, where the team departed from the city of Santa Cruz after taking a commercial flight from Brazil.<\/p>\n

Coach Mauro Stumpf told the TV network he hoped the plane would “bring (us) luck” like it did when the team flew with the same company to a quarter-final match last month.<\/p>\n

The British Aerospace 146 airliner entered into operation in 1999 and previously belonged to two other airlines, a spokesman for the manufacturer told AFP.<\/p>\n

Specialist sites said the same plane was used two weeks ago to fly the Argentine national team with Messi on board to San Juan, Argentina for a World Cup qualifying match.<\/p>\n

Britain's Air Accidents Investigation Branch said it was sending experts along with representatives of the plane's manufacturer BAE Systems to Colombia to help with investigations.<\/p>\n

– ‘Disastrous scene' –<\/p>\n

The plane went down about 50 kilometers (30 miles) from Medellin, in a remote mountain area called Cerro Gordo.<\/p>\n

“We found ourselves faced with a disastrous scene. The plane was completely destroyed,” fire service captain Elkin Gonzalez told AFP.<\/p>\n

Rescuers and aviation authorities said the survivors were three players, two crew members and a journalist.<\/p>\n

The team's lead goalkeeper, Marcos Danilo Padilha, 31, died on the way to hospital, the civil aviation authority said.<\/p>\n

His last-minute save in the semi-final had sealed the team's place in the Copa Sudamericana final.<\/p>\n

The journalists killed included six employees from the Brazilian affiliate of Fox Sports television. One of them, Mario Sergio, was a well-known announcer and former Brazilian international player.<\/p>\n

– Dashed dreams –<\/p>\n

The cup final first-leg had been scheduled for Wednesday against Atletico Nacional of Colombia.<\/p>\n

In an emotional gesture, Nacional called for Chapecoense to be awarded the cup.<\/p>\n

Chapecoense is seen as one of the minnows of Brazilian club football.<\/p>\n

After decades in the lower divisions, it returned to Brazil's top flight Serie A in 2014 for the first time since 1979.<\/p>\n

“We have moved from a dream to a true nightmare,” said Buligon, the mayor.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sports desk: A plane that crashed in the mountains of Colombia, killing 71 people, including members of a Brazilian football team, may have run out of fuel, 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,” the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":28348,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[8],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\t\n