Among the passengers were players from Brazilian football team Chapocoense, heading to a regional tournament final.
A plane carrying 77 people, including Brazil’s Chapecoense Real football team, has crashed on its approach to the city of Medellin in Colombia, officials say.
Police officials said that seven passengers had initially survived but one later died in hospital.
Medellin’s airport confirmed that the aircraft, which departed from Bolivia, was transporting the Chapecoense football team from southern Brazil, which was scheduled to play the Copa Sudamerica finals against Atletico Nacional on Wednesday in Medellin.
According to the Jose Maria Cordova International Airport‘s Twitter page. The municipality is roughly 22 miles from the airport, which is located in Rionegro and serves the nearby city of Medellin.
The charter aircraft, which took off from Bolivia, was carrying 77 passengers, crewmembers, including the Chapecoense Brazilian soccer team that was expected to play in the Copa Sudamerica finals against Atletico Nacional on Wednesday in Medellin.
The airport official said Medellin’s Mayor Federico Gutierrez said that it is possible there are survivors but did not say how many. “It’s a tragedy of huge proportions,” Gutierrez told Blu Radio on his way to the site in a mountainous area outside the city where the chartered aircraft is believed to have crashed shortly before midnight local time.
He further said ambulances and rescuers were on their way, but It is not clear what caused the crash.
Last picture before the crash, on their way to the Copa final. #Chapecoense pic.twitter.com/A0jvoVqy78
— Fredo, FES Bets (@ZFredo_) November 29, 2016