Forgotten passport saved player’s life
COLOMBIA: It was a disappointing moment for Matheus Saroli, son of the manager of the Chapecoense football team. As the players, coaches and media gathered at Guarulhos airport in Sao Paulo on Tuesday to leave for their match in Colombia, Saroli found he had forgotten his passport and could not board the flight.
He said goodbye to his father and the team as they boarded Flight 2933 for Santa Cruz in Bolivia, where they would have a brief layover before heading for Medellin.
There, the tiny team from southern Brazil hoped to pry the Copa Sudamericana from Colombian heavyweights Atletico Nacional.
That moment of carelessness saved Saroli’s life. As the BAE 146 approached Medellin in fog and heavy rain, it ploughed into a hillside, killing his father Caio Junior, and 70 other people on board.
In a message yesterday thanking sympathisers and asking for privacy in the family’s moment of grief, Saroli said: ‘‘We are strong and we will get through this.’’
As thousands of fans showed up at Chapecoense’s stadium in the Brazilian town of Chapeco to pay their respects, President Michel Temer declared three days of mourning.
Brazil’s first division clubs, led by Corinthians, said they would show their solidarity after the disaster by contributing players to Chapecoense, who made it into the top division two years ago, to prevent them being relegated.
In Colombia, Atletico players said their opponents should be declared champions of the tournament, and asked fans to wear white in respect.
One of the most heartfelt messages came from Paulo Paixao, a former fitness trainer for the Brazilian national team, whose son, Anderson, was Chapecoense’s physiotherapist and died in the crash. Anderson Paixao’s own son died of a heart attack in 2001, aged 25.
‘‘We are strong and we will get through this.’’ Matheus Saroli, who lost his father in the crash but could not board the plane after forgetting his passport
Paulo Paixao wrote: ‘‘It’s a very difficult moment for us. But the good Lord wanted us to go through this again. We already lost Alessandro in 2002 . . . I think this is our fate.’’
Those who survived suffered horrific injuries.
Jackson Follmann, a goalkeeper, had a leg amputated, while Alan Ruschel, a defender, sustained serious spinal and leg injuries that could leave him paralysed, doctors said.
The crash not only dashed the hopes of Chapeco, a town of 210,000 people known for agriculture, but also devastated Brazilian sports journalism.
Twenty-two reporters, cameramen and photographers, including six from Fox Sports Brazil, were accompanying the team.
One other player, defender Helio Zampier – known as Neto – survived the crash, as did a flight attendant and another crew member.
Rescuers said Neto was pulled from the wreckage six hours after the crash with serious head injuries.
Doctors said he had hypothermia and was able to move only his eyes.
‘‘We were able to rescue six people alive but one of them died on the way to the hospital,’’ Jose Gerardo Acevedo, a police commander, said.
That victim was Marcos Danilo Padilha, the Chapecoense goalkeeper whose spectacular last-minute save helped to win the semifinal and send the team on their fatal flight. – The Times