Video game caused 71 deaths in crash
The plane that crashed in Colombia Monday, killing 71 people, including most of a Brazilian soccer team, ran out of fuel because its crew searched for a player’s video game before takeoff — causing a delay that led to a missed refueling stop, it was reported Friday.
LaMia Flight 2933, which took off from Santa Cruz, Bolivia, had been slated to refuel in Cobija, Bolivia, but passed that city’s airport after it closed at midnight, the Daily Mail reported.
The chartered jet, carrying the Chapecoense team to the Copa Sudamericana final, ran out of fuel as it waited for clearance to land at Medellín, Colombia, leading Capt. Miguel Alejandro Quiroga to issue a mayday call.
The plane slammed into a mountainside eight miles away after flying for 20 minutes longer than its four-hour fuel capacity, the paper reported.
On a full tank, the Avro RJ85’s maximum range was 1,841 miles, just short of the distance from Santa Cruz to Medellín.
Demerson Costa, 30, a Chapecoense defender not on the trip, told the paper that a note posted to the WhatsApp messaging service by team official Chinho Di Domenico right before takeoff shed light on the fuel mystery.
“The last message that was sent on the group was from Chinho, making fun of the fact one of the players was holding up the flight from Bolivia because he had forgotten to take his video game out of his bags before it had been dispatched,” Costa recalled. “He said the flight had been delayed as they tried to retrieve it.”
The team began its trip in São Paulo, Brazil, where the unnamed player’s bag was placed in the baggage hold. Before flying for Santa Cruz, he asked the crew to retrieve it, leading to the delay, the paper reported.
Still, aviation expert Phil Derner said the jet should have had 30 minutes of fuel in reserve.
“When they enter a holding pattern, they should be doing the math to figure out exactly how long they can hold,” Derner, founder of the news site NYCAviation, told The Post.
Meanwhile, Bolivia has suspended LaMia’s operating license, The Telegraph reported.
Bolivian President Evo Morales called for “drastic measures” against aviation officials as details emerged pointing to negligence and family ties between LaMia and the agency that approved the flight plan.
Six people survived the crash. Crew members Ximena Suarez and Erwin Tumiri were in good condition. Players Alan Ruschel, Jackson Follmann and Hélio Neto and journalist Rafel Henzel were in intensive care, the BBC reported.