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Colombian Plane Crash Wipes Out Brazilian Soccer Team

CBN

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A plane carrying a Brazilian first division soccer team crashed Monday evening outside Medellin killing 76 people. Six people initially survived, but one of them died later in a hospital, according to reports.  

There were 72 passengers and nine crew attendants on the plane. 

Only three of the players, Alan Ruschel, Jakson Follman and Zampier Neto survived the crash. 

The Chapecoense soccer players were on their way to the finals of a regional tournament, according to Colombian officials. They departed from Santa Cruz, Bolivia. 
 
The British Aerospace 146 short-haul plane, operated by charter airline LaMia, declared an emergency and lost radar contact before 10 p.m. on Monday, possibly due to an electrical failure. 

"What was supposed to be a celebration has turned into a tragedy," Medellin Mayor Federico Gutierrez said from the search and rescue command center.

The soccer club made a statement on its Facebook page, asking that "God be with our athletes, leaders, journalists and other guests who are along with the delegation."

One of the survivors was a Chapecoense defender, Alan Ruschel, who doctors said suffered spinal injuries. 

Two goalkeepers, Danilo and Jackson Follmann, and a member of the team's delegation along with a Bolivian flight attendant, were also found alive in the wreckage.

Danilo later died while receiving treatment at the hospital, team spokesman Andrei Copetti told The Associated Press.

"This morning I said goodbye to them and they told me they were going after the dream, turning that dream into reality," a Chapecoense board member told TV Globo. "The dream was over early this morning."

"This is unbelievable, I am walking on the grass of the stadium and I feel like I am floating," Andrei Copetti, a team spokesman said. "No one understands how a story that was so amazing could suffer such a devastating reversal. For many people here reality has still not struck."

All soccer activities have been suspended, according to the organization.
 

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