Sports

Rafael Henzel, a journalist who traveled with the Champecoense team and one of the only survivors of the fatal plane crash, remembered the flight crew not telling any passengers to fasten their seatbelts.

In his first interview since the crash, Henzel spoke with Brazil’s Fantastico TV and mentioned that none of the passengers were given a warning on the upcoming crash. “ No one told us to fasten our seat belts, said Henzel, “Every time we asked when we’d arrive we were told ten minutes”.

Brazilian officials support Champecoense that they were not under any pressure from CONMEBOL to use the Bolivian based LaMia charter company to take the team to Colombia for the Copa Sudamerica final.

The LaMia BAE146 AvroRJ85, as mentioned by aviation experts was at its maximum range on the flight from Santa Cruz, Bolivia when it crashed while approaching Medellin, Colombia, Monday evening, killing 71 of the passengers on board.

The pilot of the jet that crashed Monday evening with all of the staff and players of the Brazilian Champecoense futbol team told the tower that he was out of fuel.

In the air traffic tower recordings, the pilot is heard requesting immediate permission to land at Medellin’s International Airport due to a  “total electrical failure” and no fuel eight miles from the airport.

Chelsea player David Luiz took the plane crash in Medellin, Colombia harder than most. Luiz, as well as Champecoense player, Arthur Maia were team players then they were younger.  Based in Salvador, Bahia Brazil, both Luiz and Arthur were part of the Vitoria soccer team.

Luiz took to Instagram to express his sorrow with a touching message that read:

The Chasmpecoense Futbol team took off from a Bolivian airport heading for Medellin, Colombia to participate in a championship match when it started experiencing electrical problems while flying through Antioquia.

The pilot circled the area in order to burn fuel and avoid an explosion while preparing to make a forced landing. The jet smashed into a hill and broke in two in a remote mountain area outside of Medellin  last night.

There are futbol teams that have stars such as Ronaldo, Messi, and Neymar that can fill stadiums every week and can win major titles almost every year. On the other hand, there are teams that build from the ground up piece by piece who can only dream of reaching a playoff position but will keep battling till the final whistle.