Colombians angry that plane ran out of fuel
Grieving relatives of crash victims express disbelief.
Authorities prepared Thursday to transport home the bodies of dozens of victims of this week’s air tragedy in Colombia as grief turned to anger amid indications the airliner ran out of fuel before slamming into the Andes.
Bolivian aviation officials announced they were indefinitely suspending the charter company that operated the flight.
Many of the victims were players and coaches from a small-town Brazilian soccer team that was headed to the finals of one of South America’s most prestigious tournaments after a fairy-tale season that had captivated their soccer-crazed nation.
On Thursday, rows of caskets, many covered with white sheets printed with the logo of the Chapocoense soccer team, filled a Medellin funeral home in preparation for being flown home.
Grieving relatives of the dead, who gathered to say their goodbyes, spoke out in disbelief about a recording of conversations between a pilot of the doomed flight and air traffic controllers, as well as the account of a surviving flight attendant, indicated the plane ran out of fuel before crashing late Monday, killing all but six of the 77 people on board.
Osmar Machado, whose son, Filipe, was a defender on the Chapecoense team, questioned why the plane transporting the team from Santa Cruz, Bolivia, was allowed to fly to its maximum range.
“Profit brings greed,” Machado said, speaking in the Brazilian team’s hometown of Chapeco. “This plane ended (the lives of ) 71 people.”
Williams Brasiliano, uncle of midfielder Arthur Maia, said the crash could have been avoided if the team had taken a commercial airline to travel to Colombia — not a charter.
Chapecoense spokesman Andrei Copetti defended the team’s decision, saying that more than 30 clubs had used the Bolivia-based company, LaMia airlines, and that the team itself had flown on its flights before.
“They had a good service then. It was the airline that got in touch with us because they have experience in doing these long flights in South America,” he said.
A recording of the flight’s final minutes indicated the pilot repeatedly requested permission to land because of “fuel problems,” although he never made a formal distress call. He was told another plane had been diverted with mechanical problems and had priority, and was instructed to wait seven minutes.
As the jetliner circled in a holding pattern, the pilot grew more desperate. “Complete electrical failure, without fuel,” he said before the plane set off on a four-minute death spiral.
By then the controller had gauged the seriousness of the situation and told the other plane to abandon its approach to make way for the charter jet. But it was too late.
The recording appeared to confirm the accounts of a surviving flight attendant and a pilot flying nearby who overheard the frantic exchange. These, along with the lack of an explosion upon impact, pointed to a rare case of fuel burnout as a cause of the crash of the British Aerospace 146 Avro RJ85.
Charter company that operated the flight suspended.