A plane with 81 people on board, including a top tier Brazilian Football club, crashed into the mountains while entering the city of Medellin, Columbia. The official numbers report 25 confirmed dead and only 6 survivors.
The aircraft, flying from Bolivia, was carrying 22 players of the Chapecoense football club who were scheduled to play in the Copa Sudamericana against Medellin outfit Athletico Nacional. The first leg of the final was to be played on Wednesday but now has been suspended in light of the tragedy. The return leg of the tie was scheduled for 7th December.
The Copa Sudamericana is the second biggest club competition in South America after the Copa Libertadores.
Death toll unknown
Reports from the search suggest that defender Alan Ruschel is among the six survivors but police fear there could be 75 dead as the search for bodies continued. The South American Football Association (CONMEBOL) has declared that it was suspending "all activities" and refrained from further comments until full investigation of the Crash site has been resolved.
Chapecoense issued a statement saying: "May God be with our athletes, officials, journalists and other guests traveling with our delegation."
Besides the 22 Chapecoense players, the plane also carried 22 football journalists from Brazil.
Chapecoense are club based in the city of Chapeco in the state of Santa Catarina and play in the Brazilian Serie A. Founded in 1973, the club achieved promotion to the first division in 2014.
Electrical Failures Sighted For Crash
The plane that crashed was a British aerospace 146 short-haul aircraft. It started its journey from Sao Paulo, Brazil at 3:35 PM local time and made a stop at Santa Criz de la Sierra, an economic hub in Bolivia later that day before flying off to Medellin.
The Jose Maria Cordova international airport in Medellin reported that a plane flying from Santa Cruz had "declared an emergency" because of electrical failures between the La Ceja and La Union municipalities in Columbia.
Medellin's mayor Federico Gutierrez dubbed the incident as a "tragedy of huge proportions".
