Brazilian team returns to Colombian site of doomed jet crash

Ten years after a plane carrying Brazil’s Chapecoense football team ran out of fuel and crashed in Colombia, the club returned to the disaster site on Friday to attend a tribute to the 71 victims.

Only six of the 77 people on board the plane survived one of the worst tragedies in the history of football, on the night of Nov 28, 2016.

Chapecoense were en route to the first leg of the Copa Sudamericana final against Colombia’s Atletico Nacional in Medellin when their plane crashed into a mountain on the outskirts of the city.

Only three players from the 22-strong squad survived.

The match was to be the biggest in the history of the southern Brazilian side, and they had been tipped to win.

Chapecoense returned to Colombia this week for a friendly against Atletico Nacional on Saturday and to attend a tribute to the crash victims.

On Friday the team will inaugurate a memorial engraved with the names of the dead.

They were joined on the trip by Helio Neto, a former defender who survived the crash.

Miguel Ramirez, a Colombian farmer who was first on the scene of the disaster 10 years ago, told AFP he still hears the “cries of people calling for help.”

Pieces of the plane’s fuselage can still be seen near the crash site.

After the tragedy, Chapecoense was awarded the Copa Sudamericana by regional football body Conmebol at the request of Atletico Nacional.

The two teams met again five months later to compete for the 2017 Recopa Sudamericana competition, which was won by the Colombian team.