Report: Check out list of Brisbane Broncos players who died and some injured as plan crashed on their way to..
Colombia’s civil aviation body says only six people survived the crash, blamed on an electrical fault.
The chartered aircraft, flying from Brazil via Bolivia, was carrying members of the Chapecoense team.
The team had been due to play in the final of the Copa Sudamericana, against Medellin team Atletico Nacional.
Organisers say Atletico Nacional has asked for Chapecoense to be awarded the cup. Brazilian clubs have offered to lend players to them for free for the next year.
Colombian aviation officials said there were 21 journalists on board.
Shortly before boarding in Sao Paulo, Chapecoense manager Cadu Gaucho, 36, appeared in a video posted on the team’s Facebook site, external [in Portuguese] describing the trip to Medellin as “the club’s most important to date”.
Playing in the final of the Copa Sudamericana was to be the highlight of a glorious season for the team from a small city of less than 200,000 inhabitants in the state of Santa Catarina.
Founded in 1973, the team has been playing in Brazil’s Serie A since only 2014 but is currently ninth ahead of much more famous and established teams such as Sao Paulo, Fluminense and Cruzeiro.
Last week, it became the first Brazilian team in three years to make it to the final of the Copa Sudamericana, South America’s second most important club competition, after beating Argentine side San Lorenzo.
One of the founders of the club, Alvadir Pelisser, told BBC Brasil the tragedy had put an “end to everyone’s dream”. “We were a family, I’m shocked,” he added.
