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."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.