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Flight Recorder Found From Crash of Plane Carrying Brazilian Soccer Team

by VOA News

   Colombian authorities said on Wednesday that forensic experts are
   working on identifying the bodies of 71 people killed after a plane
   carrying members of a Brazilian soccer team crashed late Monday near
   Medellin.
   Once the identification process is completed, the victims will be
   repatriated to Brazil. The death toll was lowered from earlier reports
   of at least 76.
   On Tuesday, the country's aviation agency said it has found the
   airplane's cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder amidst the
   aircraft debris.
   Six people survived the crash. Among them were three members of the
   Chapecoense soccer team, at least two of them with substantial
   injuries: a journalist, and two members of the flight crew.

   Rescuers carry one of the survivors from the LAMIA airlines charter
   plane carrying members of the Chapecoense Real football team that
   crashed in the mountains of Cerro Gordo, municipality of La Union, Nov.
   29, 2016.

   Brazilian goalkeeper Marcos Danilo Padilha initially survived the
   crash, but "died while being transferred" to a hospital, officials
   said.
   Doctors had to amputate the leg of reserve goalkeeper Jackson Follman,
   while defender Helio Neto suffered cranial injuries. Defender Alan
   Ruschel was the other survivor. A doctor said he underwent surgery and
   then was transferred to another hospital for further examination.

   Rescue workers at the wreckage of an airplane that was carrying the
   Brazilian soccer club Chapecoense when it crashed outside Medellin,
   Colombia, Nov. 29, 2016.

   Investigation under way
   The plane, owned by the small Venezuelan airline LaMia, departed
   Bolivia to play in the final of the Copa Sudamericana soccer tournament
   when it crashed.
   According to reports, the jet was at an altitude of 3,300 meters
   (10,827 feet) before the tragic accident.
   Rescue efforts were hindered by the difficulty in reaching the
   mountainous crash site and low visibility.
   Alfredo Bocanegra, head of Columbia's civil aviation agency, said
   authorities cannot rule out the possibility the plane ran out of fuel
   before it crashed, but the main focus of the investigation was on a
   possible electrical failure.
   Chapecoense board member Plinio De Nes said a crisis center has been
   set up at the team's headquarters for relatives and friends.
   "[Players] told me they were going after this dream, to make the dream
   turn into reality. We were very moved and shared a lot of this dream
   with them. The dream is now over," he told reporters.

   People pay tribute to the players of Brazilian team Chapecoense Real
   who were killed in a plane accident in the Colombian mountains, at the
   club's Arena Conda stadium in Chapeco, in the southern Brazilian state
   of Santa Catarina, Nov. 29, 2016.

   The Colombian football squad Atletico National said it is also waiting
   for more information and offered their support to the Brazilian team,
   adding that Chapecoense should win the title "as an honorary trophy for
   its great loss."
   Also on board were more than 20 journalists who were going to cover the
   Copa Sudamericana soccer match on Wednesday.
   Members of the press were from several organizations, including Fox
   Sports Brazil and Globo, a large Brazilian conglomerate, and a variety
   of FM and AM radio stations in South America.
   On Twitter, Chapecoense's rival called for fans to dress in white and
   attend a candlelight vigil at the city's soccer stadium to honor the
   people who died in the plane crash.

   IN PICTURES: Plane with Brazilian Soccer Team Crashes in Colombia

   Brazilian president Michael Temer said authorities are mobilizing to
   help the team and families of the victims. He said "the government will
   do everything possible to alleviate the pain" of the family members of
   the players and the journalists who died in the crash.
   The crash has prompted the South American soccer federation to cancel
   all activities until further notice.
   Condolences
   Condolence messages poured in through social media from many
   international teams and well-known players.
   Brazilian soccer legend Pele said on Twitter that Brazilian football is
   in mourning.
   "It is such a tragic loss. My sincere condolences to the families of
   the deceased. Rest in peace," he wrote.
   English soccer team Manchester United expressed grief and offered
   condolences. Real Madrid's squad stopped a training to hold a minute of
   silence.
   On Facebook, Argentina's Diego Maradona offered condolences to the
   families.
   The Rio headquarters of the Brazilian Football Association (CBF) flew
   flags at half-staff on Tuesday and halted all games in the Brazilian
   soccer calendar for the next seven days.
   The mayor of the southern Brazilian city of Chapeco, home of the
   ill-fated soccer team, said he and other officials barely missed
   boarding the plane that crashed. Instead, they took a commercial
   flight.
   The team joined Brazil's first division in 2014 for the first time
   since the 1970s.