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A chartered plane carrying a total of 81 people including the members of a Brazilian soccer team, crashed near the Medellin. The accident killed 75 people while on its way to the finals of a regional tournament. Colombian officials reported that only six people survived the tragic incident. This accounts three players, two crew members and a journalist who was there to accompany the team.

LaMia Charter Airline operated the British aerospace 146 short-haul plane. Before 10 pm on Monday (0300 GMT) they declared an emergency and lost radar contact due to an electrical failure. It flew near the towns of La Ceja and La Unión, in mountainous stretches around Medellín. According to aviation authorities, the aircraft departed from Santa Cruz, Bolivia they were transporting the Chapecoense team from southern Brazil.

 It was supposed to be for the first leg of a two-game Copa Sudamericana final against Atletico Nacional of Medellin on Wednesday. The Brazilian soccer team was the pride of Chapecó which is a staid city of 210,000 known for its food processing plants and other agribusiness ventures.

Roberto Panarotta, a professor of media studies in Chapecó said that the city is relatively small so everyone knows somebody who was on the plane. He also added that he lost a childhood friend in the plane crash one of the members of the coaching staff.  21 journalist were reported to be onboard on the plane including reporters from fox Latin America, the Globo television network and news organizations from Brazil reported by NYTimes.

According to the Colombian station Blu radio, they conducted an interview with Alfredo Bocanegra who is the Colombia's civil aviation director. He said the plane was prioritized to land before air traffic controllers lost contact with it, according to Telegraph.

President Juan Manuel Santos of Colombia called the crash a tragedy that has the whole region in mourning. He then said that two out of the six survivors are in critical condition, he also spoke to president Michel Temer of Brazil and offered any assistance they might need.