Brazil鈥檚 Chapecoense football club fans participate in a tribute to the players killed in a plane crash Monday night in Colombia, at the club鈥檚 stadium in Chapeco, Santa Catarina, Brazil, on November 30, 2016.
Fans mourned Wednesday for a Brazilian football team decimated in a plane crash that killed 71 people in Colombia, as a recording emerged of the panicked pilot reporting he was out of fuel. AFP
MEDELL脥N, Colombia 鈥� Fans mourned Wednesday a Brazilian football team decimated in a plane crash that killed 71 people in Colombia, as a recording emerged of the panicked pilot reporting he was out of fuel.
Authorities are still investigating what caused the charter flight to crash in the mountains outside Medellin as it carried Cinderella story team Chapecoense Real to a major match.
A haunting recording aired by Colombian media appeared to hold answers 鈥� though officials have not confirmed its authenticity.
鈥淢a鈥檃m, LAMIA 2933 has a total failure, total electrical failure, without fuel,鈥� pilot Miguel Quiroga tells the control tower in the recording, minutes before the plane crashed Monday night.
In the tape, the pilot had earlier asked for priority to land due to 鈥渇uel problems.鈥�
The request was granted by Medellin鈥檚 international airport.
But the control tower then lost contact with the plane, whose fuselage was found plastered on a hillside 50 kilometers (30 miles) outside the city.
READ: Hunt begins for cause of crash that wipes out Brazilian team
The crash killed most of Chapecoense鈥檚 squad and 20 journalists traveling with them to the finals of South America鈥檚 second-largest club tournament.
The unsung Brazilian club was on the way to crowning a fairytale year in the Copa Sudamericana against Medellin side Atletico Nacional.
Announcing the crash on Monday night, the aviation authority said the plane had reported electrical problems.
But it may also have been out of fuel.
A Colombian military source told AFP: 鈥淚t is very suspicious that despite the impact there was no explosion. That reinforces the theory of the lack of fuel.鈥�
The plane was scheduled to make a refueling stop in Bogota, but skipped the Colombian capital and headed straight for Medellin, reported Bolivian newspaper Pagina Siete, citing a representative of the airline.
鈥淭he pilot was the one who made the decision,鈥� Gustavo Vargas of Bolivian charter company LAMIA told the newspaper.
鈥淗e thought the fuel would last.鈥�
Black boxes
Colombia鈥檚 civil aviation authority said it hoped to establish the cause of the crash 鈥渁s soon as possible.鈥�
British and Brazilian investigators headed to Colombia to help with the probe, authorities said.
Investigators have recovered the black boxes from the British Aerospace 146 plane.
They were undamaged and 鈥渨ill reveal everything,鈥� said Colombian Transport Minister Jorge Eduardo Rojas.
Bolivian civil aviation chief Cesar Varela told reporters 鈥渢he crew had their licenses in order. Everything was in order.鈥�
Brazilian city 鈥榙evastated鈥�
Brazil declared three days of national mourning.
Hometown fans in the southern city of Chapeco, population 200,000, were in shock.
鈥淐hapeco is not a big city. We would meet (the players) in the street,鈥� said teacher Aline Fonseca, 21.
鈥淚t鈥檚 hard to keep going,鈥� she said. 鈥淭he city is devastated.鈥�
Fans were to mass later Wednesday in the Chapecoense stadium, which has been draped in black ribbons.
In Medellin, Atletico Nacional called for a memorial service Wednesday evening at the time the first-leg final match was to have been played.
It asked fans to come to the stadium dressed in white with candles.
Other Brazilian clubs have offered Chapecoense players so it can continue competing. Special funds have also been set up.
The Spanish football league said next Saturday鈥檚 blockbuster clash between Barcelona and Real Madrid will be preceded by a minute鈥檚 silence for the crash victims.
Pope Francis said in a statement he was 鈥渄eeply grieved鈥� by the crash.
Miracle survivors
Six people miraculously survived the crash. Three were footballers, but goalkeeper Jakson Follmann had his right leg amputated, said the hospital treating him.
READ:
Two flight crew and a journalist also survived.
Four people missed the flight.
They included Chapeco mayor Luciano Buligon, who arrived Wednesday in Medellin to oversee the return of the bodies along with Brazilian Foreign Minister Jose Serra.
Brazil鈥檚 ambassador in Colombia, Julio Glinternick, told AFP authorities hoped to have identified all the bodies by Thursday morning.
So far, 42 have been identified, according to Brazil鈥檚 foreign ministry.
The Brazilian air force will then fly them home in two Hercules cargo planes./rga