A Tragedy Like no Other

Chapacoense awarded Sudamericana title after plane crash that claimed 71 lives.

Distances are vast in South America and travel links can be awkward, especially for those clubs outside the main centres – like Chapecoense, from the small town of Chapeco in the south of Brazil, whose team was all but wiped out as their plane crashed on approach to Medellin airport in the early hours of November 29.

Logistical difficulties with conventional airlines meant that Bolivia-based LaMia, in their only operational aircraft, were carrying Chapecoense up to Colombia for the first leg of the Sudamericana Cup Final against Atletico Nacional.

The flight took off from Santa Cruz de la Sierra in Bolivia – as local air-traffic controller Celia Castedo pointed out, going direct to Medellin would be at the very limit of the plane’s fuel capacity, contravening  safety regulations. An investigation into the disaster, which took the lives of 71 of the 77 people on board, should take at least six months. But it already seems clear that the plane had run out of fuel. Pilot Miguel Quiroga was also part owner of the company, and specialists agree that he was thinking more like a businessman than a pilot in trusting that he had enough fuel for the trip.