MEDELLIN, COLOMBIA (AP) –  Dozens are killed after a chartered plane carrying a Brazilian soccer team crashes just outside Medellin around midnight Tuesday.

Article by CBS Baltimore

The aircraft was carrying 81 people including crew members and the Brazilian first division Chapecoense soccer team which was heading to Colombia for a regional tournament final.

The British Aerospace 146 short-haul plane, operated by a charter airline named LaMia, declared an emergency at 10 p.m. Monday because of an electrical failure, aviation authorities said.

Colombian police say that just five people have survived the crash, and the rest of the passengers were killed.   Six people initially survived, but one of them later died in a hospital. Authorities and rescuers were immediately activated but an air force helicopter had to turn back because of low visibility. Heavy rainfall complicated the nighttime search, and authorities urged journalists to stay off the roads so ambulances and other rescuers could reach the site.

The South American soccer federation has canceled all activities until further notice. The first of the two-game Copa Sudamericana final was scheduled to be played on Wednesday.

The team, from the small city of Chapeco, was in the middle of a fairy tale season. It joined Brazil’s first division in 2014 for the first time since the 1970s and made it last week to the Copa Sudamericana finals — the equivalent of the UEFA Europa League tournament — after defeating two of Argentina’s fiercest squads, San Lorenzo and Independiente, as well as Colombia’s Junior.

The club said in a brief statement on its Facebook page that “may God accompany our athletes, officials, journalists and other guests traveling with our delegation.”
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