Only 6 survive Columbia plane crash

pixaby

pixaby

Sam Slattery, Staff Writer

On Monday, the 28th of November, a plane crashed in the mountain side of Colombia. Brazilians are mourning the deaths of 71 country men, including members of the Brazilian professional soccer team, Chapecoense. There was 22 sports journalist on board, along with 9 crew members. Police say of the 77 on board, 6 people survived the crash near Medellin. Survivors included three soccer players, two crew members, and a journalist.

Both crew members are in stable condition. Alan Luciano Ruschel, a player, was sent to the ICU with a spinal fracture. Goalie, Jackson Ragnar Follmann was attended to by specialist at the Colombia hospital, San Vicente Fundacion. He had his leg amputated and is in critical condition. The third was Helio Neto who had surgery on his leg, but is scheduled to return to soccer.  

Michel Temer, the Brazilian president, declared three days of national mourning for the victims.

It was initially reported that 81 people were on-board the plane, but four had decided not to fly. Two Chapecoense players did not attend due to injuries and the coach’s son forgot his passport.

Flight LMI 2933 crashed and split in two at 10:15 pm local time. There was dangerous weather, which made rescue efforts difficult. Ambulances struggled to get to the crashed plane and the survivors were carried a half an hour down the mountain on stretchers to reach the ambulance.

The London’s The Sun wrote that the team could have flown directly to Medellin, but were forced to change planes in Bolivia. Other pilots have said that pilot, Miguel Quiroga, 36, should have never been allowed to set off with his flight plane. It was said to be flawed and there were no plans to refuel, nor did the plane have enough time to reach an alternative airport. There was speculation that Quiroga did not stop for gas in order to save money. Brazilian newspaper, Estado de S Paulo reported that four other flights were flown at the limit of fuel capacity.

Players and staff were on their way to a two game Copa Sudamericana final for the first time. The South American Football Confederation made a statement that it “greatly regrets” the incident and has suspended all activities until further notice.