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Funeral employees arrange caskets covered in white sheets with a Chapecoense soccer team logo. Fernando Vergara

Bodies of victims of plane crash which wiped out football team flown back to Brazil

FIFA chief Gianni Infantino canceled a trip to Australia to attend the funeral.

THE BODIES OF the 71 victims killed in a plane crash in Colombia that wiped out a Brazilian football team returned home last night, as mourners prepared a massive funeral.

Along the road to the airport, hundreds of people brandished flowers, white balloons and Colombian flags to pay a final farewell to the victims of Monday’s tragedy.

The remains of the first victim, Paraguayan crew member Gustavo Encina, were handed over to his family early Friday in a coffin draped in his country’s flag.

The other victims — 64 Brazilians, five Bolivians and a Venezuelan — were flown home on a series of flights throughout the day.

“What we want now more than anything else is to go home, to take our friends and brothers home. The wait is the worst,” said Roberto Di Marche, a cousin of football team Chapecoense Real’s late director Nilson Folle Junior.

In the club’s hometown, the southern Brazilian city of Chapeco, more than 100,000 people — about half the city’s population — are expected to attend a memorial service Saturday in honor of the team, whose fairytale season was tragically cut short.

FIFA chief Gianni Infantino canceled a trip to Australia to attend the funeral.

Officials said Brazilian President Michel Temer would likely travel to Chapeco as well.

“The #Chapecoense will remain in our memory for their perseverance and tenacity. I reiterate my deepest solidarity with relatives of the victims,” ​​Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos wrote on Twitter as the last plane departed.

Colombia Air Crash Fernando Vergara Fernando Vergara

The bodies will be carried during a funeral procession through the city, ending with a ceremony at the team’s stadium.

Authorities are still investigating what caused the charter flight to smash into the mountains outside Medellin, where Chapecoense was due to play the biggest match in its history — the finals of the Copa Sudamericana, South America’s second-largest cup tournament.

A harrowing recording has emerged of the panicked pilot asking the control tower for priority to land because he was out of fuel, which would make the crash tragically avoidable.

Colombia’s civil aviation safety chief, Freddy Bonilla, said the plane disregarded international rules on fuel reserves.

© – AFP 2016

Read: At least 38 killed in two separate Chinese coal mine blasts

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    Mute Louise Phelan
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    Dec 3rd 2016, 12:58 PM

    What a tragedy may they all r.i.p.

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    Mute Declan Mannix
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    Dec 3rd 2016, 1:13 PM

    What a waste of life. Completely avoidable if the airline followed basic rules on fuel.

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    Mute lavbeer
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    Dec 3rd 2016, 2:04 PM

    I thought the plane was fully fuelled?

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    Mute Funfair
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    Dec 3rd 2016, 2:19 PM

    Initial reports said captain saved lives by dumping fuel before the crash however that changed the next day to having run out of fuel.That is were the confusion arose lavbeer

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    Mute Kath Noonan
    Favourite Kath Noonan
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    Dec 3rd 2016, 8:01 PM

    First reports actually quoted the pilot as saying ‘everything is failing, electrical and fuel’. Now there is no mention of electrics?? Think they may be changing their tune. Prob be blamed – wrongly, on operator error.

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