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An emergency has been declared in Colombia after a plane carrying members of a Brazilian football team crashed with 81 people on board.

The charter aircraft, carrying 72 passengers and nine crew, is believed to have come down in a mountainous area outside Medellin shortly before midnight local time.

Jose Maria Cordova de Rionegro airport, which serves Medellin, said in a statement that "all possible aid was being mobilized because six survivors are being reported".

Colombia's civil aviation association said rescuers were moving survivors away from the site of the crash.

A hospital official told reporters there were "many" survivors


The plane, which had stopped in Bolivia, had been carrying the Chapecoense football team from the city of Chapeco in southern Brazil.

The side, which entered Brazil's first division in 2014 for the first time since the 1970s, was preparing to play on Wednesday in the first of a two-leg Copa Sudamericana final against Medellin's Atletico Nacional.

Atletico Nacional has tweeted to express its sympathies.


It is not yet clear what caused the aircraft - a British Aerospace 146 - to come down, but Colombia has been experiencing heavy rain and thunderstorms.

Medellin airport said that because of the conditions, the crash site could only be reached by land.

The mayor of Medellin, Federico Gutierrez, said: "It's a regrettable situation.

"I can confirm that this is the plane where the players were and right now we are following the events.

"We have the necessary team coming from Medellin - ambulances, medical staff - and the important thing here is to understand that there are survivors and we are saving lives.

"We are doing all we can in this very regrettable and sad situation."

The South American football federation has suspended all games following the news from Colombia.









Source: SKY NEWS

http://news.sky.com/story/plane-thought-to-be-carrying-a-brazilian-football-team-crashes-in-colombia-10676541

hey! what a tragedy

so sad I also saw it on Aljazeera.The Brazilian government should investigate this crash.I'm smelling foul play because of last week helicopter disaster same in Brazil

Lord have mercy... Death everywhere... Na wa oo

sirfee:
so sad I also saw it on Aljazeera.The Brazilian government should investigate this crash.I'm smelling foul play because of last week helicopter disaster same in Brazil

I read the Plane reported an electrical fault before the crash, do u think that could have been man made?

engrkaz:
I read the Plane reported an electrical fault before the crash, do u think that could have been man made?

Bro anything is possible,the same thing was said about the helicopter that crashed last week.Remember there's drug war going on in Brazil most especially Rio de Janeiro and some Brazilians are linking this tragedies to the turmoil going on in the country.Rip to the dead and quick recovery to the injured