Plane Carrying Brazilian Soccer Team Crashes

A plane carrying members of a Brazilian soccer team crashed outside of Medellín, Colombia on November 28, leaving only six survivors of 77 people on board. The flight, undertaken by the Bolivian airline LAMIA Bolivia, was carrying the Brazilian soccer team Chapecoense to face Colombia’s Atlético Nacional in the finals of the 2016 Copa Sudamérica.

The crashed plane was the only operational aircraft of the three owned by LAMIA Bolivia, all of which were leased from a Venezuelan airline, LAMIA. The Venezuelan National Institute of Civil Aviation denied LAMIA certification to transport passengers and cargo. Subsequently, LAMIA rented three aircraft to the Bolivian airline, which the Bolivian government granted permission to operate in 2015.

The cause of the crash is still unknown. Before the flight took off from Santa Cruz, Bolivia, airport officials noted that the plane had just enough fuel to reach its destination rather than the recommended extra 30 minutes’ worth. Despite efforts by the air traffic controller at Medellín’s airport to grant the flight priority to land, the plane crashed before it could reach the airport; its low levels of fuel caused it to fly at a low altitude and thus crash into the hill of Cerro Gordo in northwest Colombia.

Officials from the United Kingdom’s Air Accident Investigation Bureau will travel to Colombia to determine the cause of the crash because the plane was built in Britain. Colombian authorities know the plane did not explode during the crash, although they are unsure whether it was simply out of fuel or if the pilots dumped fuel before impact to prevent explosion.

Among the survivors of the crash were three Chapecoense players, two Bolivian crew members, and a Brazilian journalist. The survivors’ conditions vary, but it appears that all six will recover. Atlético Nacional, the Colombian team slated to face Chapecoense in the Copa Sudamérica finals, issued a statement requesting that Chapecoense be awarded the 2016 title as a tribute to the victims of the crash.