Plane carrying 81 people, including Brazilian soccer team, crashes in Colombia, killing 76

76 dead in Colombia airplane crash
(Image credit: AP Photo/Luis Benavides)

A chartered plane carrying nine crew members and 72 passengers, including members of the Chapecoense Brazilian soccer team, crashed as it approached Medellin, Colombia, late Monday night.

The Jose Maria Cordova Airport tweeted the plane crashed in the mountainous area of La Union, about two dozen miles away from the airport. The plane took off from Bolivia, and the soccer players were scheduled to play in the Copa Sudamerica finals Wednesday against Atletico Nacional; the game has been suspended. The mayor of Medellin, Federico Gutierrez, called the crash a "tragedy of huge proportions."

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.