Brazilian team Chapecoense, They die in a plane crash
“I express my solidarity at this sad time when dozens of Brazilian families have been affected by tragedy,” he wrote.
“We are offering every form of help and assistance that we can to the families. The air force and foreign ministry have been put to work. The government will do everything possible to relieve the pain of these friends and families of Brazilian sport and journalism.”
Medellin’s mayor, Federico Gutierrez, described the crash, close to the town of Cerro Gordo, as a “tragedy of huge proportions”.
A statement from José Maria Córdova airport in Medellin said that at 10pm a plane travelling from Santa Cruz had declared an emergency because of electrical failures between the municipalities of La Ceja and La Unión in Colombia.
“At the moment we know that the disaster happened in Cerro Gordo in the municipality of La Unión and that there were 72 passengers and nine crew aboard, including the football team Chapocoense Real. There are reported to be six survivors,” the statement read.
Colombia’s El Tiempo newspaper said there were at least 22 players from the squad on board. It reported that a 23rd player, whom the newspaper did not name, had been supposed to travel but did not. There were also 22 football journalists from Brazil on the flight.
The survivors were named by the Colombian disaster management agency as Alan Luciano Ruschel, Marcos Danilo Padilha and Jacson Ragnar Follmann. Passengers Rafael Correa Gobbato and Ximena Suarez also survived.
Amanda Ruschel, who is married to Alan Ruschel, the first player to be taken to hospital, said in an Instagram post that her husband was in a stable condition. “Thank God Alan is in the hospital, stable. We are praying for all of those who were not yet rescued and offer our support to all their relatives,” she wrote.
As news of the crash circulated across South America, football fans and clubs paid tribute on Twitter and Facebook.
