Brazil mourns victims of Colombia plane crash, probe begins

Brazil has declared three days of mourning after a plane carrying the Chapecoense football team crashed in Colombia in the early hours of Tuesday, killing 71 players, journalists and crew members.

Six of the 77 people on the plane – three footballers, two crew and a journalist – survived the disaster. One footballer who was pulled alive from the plane’s wreckage died later in hospital.

All survivors were being treated at local hospitals. Reuters news agency reported that of the players, goalkeeper Jackson Follmann was recovering from the amputation of his right leg, citing doctors. They added that defender Helio Neto remained in intensive care with severe trauma to his skull, thorax and lungs, and fellow defender Alan Ruschel had spine surgery.

Colombian officials said the charter flight started its journey in São Paulo, Brazil, on Monday afternoon and stopped over in Bolivia before heading for the Colombian city of Medellín, where the team had been due to play in the final of the Copa Sudamericana.

The plane, a British Aerospace 146 short-haul aircraft, was carrying footballers, club staff and journalists to the match against Atlético Nacional in Colombia’s second-largest city.

Investigators from Brazil were flying in to join Colombian counterparts checking two black boxes from the crash site on a muddy hillside in wooded highlands near La Union town.

Soldiers reportedly guarded the wreckage overnight after rescuers left, and investigators were to start work at first light.

Bolivia, where the charter company LAMIA was based, and the United Kingdom, also sent in experts to help the probe.

Prior to crashing, the BAe 146 had radioed it was having electrical problems, and weather conditions were poor - but there was still no official word on the cause.