Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Players’ relatives say plane crash avoidable
CHAPECO, Brazil — Relatives of victims who died in an air crash that killed most members of the Brazilian soccer club Chapecoense spoke out in anger Thursday, with several saying the crash was avoidable.
Only six of the 77 passengers and crew survived, three of them players. Nineteen other players died in the crash Monday, a few miles from the airport in Medellin, Colombia.
Recordings of conversations with the pilot and accounts of a surviving flight attendant, along with the lack of an explosion upon impact, indicated the BAE 146 Avro RJ85 jet ran out of fuel.
Bolivia’s Civil Aviation Authority on Thursday indefinitely suspended operations of LaMia airline.
Osmar Machado, the father of defender Filipe, questioned why that plane was used. His son died on his father’s 66th birthday.
“Profit brings greed,” Machado said. “Because of 30 kilometers this plane ended (the lives of) 71 people. But what can we do now? The owner of the plane died.”
Experts have said the plane that took off from Santa Cruz, Bolivia, was at its maximum flight range when it crashed into a muddy mountainside.
The team was heading to play in the first of two matches in the final of the Copa Sudamerica, South America’s No. 2 club tournament.
Chapecoense spokesman Andrei Copetti said more than 30 clubs had used the LaMia company that operated the crashed jet, including Argentina and Bolivia.
“LaMia also took us to Barranquilla (Colombia) to play against Junior,” Copetti said. “They had a good service then. It was the airline that got in touch with us because they have experience in doing these long flights in South America.”
He said the governing body of South American football, known as CONMEBOL, was not involved in choosing LaMia. He also said the city had no role.
Soccer legend Pele expressed concern for the families in his first comments about the crash.
“We have to ask God to give strength to their families for this sadness to go as quickly as possible,” Pele told ESPN Brasil. “We have to pray, send positive energies to the families.”
The team announced that a funeral will be held for several players, staff and local journalists at Arena Conda stadium Saturday. It was not clear whether all the victims would be present at a service expected to draw 100,000 to the 22,000seat arena.
Chapecoense acting president Ivan Tozzo said Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and FIFA President Gianni Infantino were to be at the funeral.
At a vigil late Wednesday, thousands of soccer fans jammed the 40,000-seat stadium where Brazil’s Chapecoense team had been scheduled to play Medellin’s Atletico Nacional in the finals.