Chapecoense plane crash: Thousands of fans hold vigil for team

Thousands of people in Chapeco in Brazil have held
a vigil for the victims of a plane crash, who included
most of the city's football team.
Fans of the Chapecoense team walked from the
town centre to the stadium where they prayed and
sang. A service was also held in the city's
cathedral.
The team was flying to Colombia for the biggest
match in their history when their plane went down
shortly before landing in Medellin, late on Monday.
Six of the 77 people on board survived.
It is not clear what brought down the chartered
aircraft, but some unconfirmed reports have
suggested there was an electrical fault, while
others say the plane was low on fuel. Both flight
recorders have been recovered.
Brazil has begun three days of official mourning,
while minute silences have been held at football
grounds around the world.
'It's really tough'
Some 10,000 people - including family members of
the players - gathered in Chapeco's Arena Conda
stadium on Tuesday evening, still stunned by the
news from earlier in the day.
Fans wearing the club's green and white colours
sang the names of the players and shouted
"champions". Families of the players hugged each
other on the pitch.
"It is really hard to speak. We always come to the
games. We'd come to the stadium and sit right in
the same spot," said fan Daniel Marline.
"And we came here today, we sat here, but we
know that this weekend, next week, our fighting
team won't be here anymore in this stadium. It's
tough. It's really tough."
What we know
'A fairytale story with a tragic ending'
Goodbye to my friends on board
Brazilians doctors have already flown to Colombia
in order to identify the bodies, and arrange for them
to be brought home.
This could happen in the coming days, as the lack
of a fire at the crash site has made retrieving and
identifying the bodies of the 71 victims relatively
easy, emergency workers say.
The team were due to play in the final of the Copa
Sudamericana against the Colombian team Atletico
Nacional later on Wednesday.
Atletico Nacional has asked fans instead to come to
the stadium dressed in white for a candelit vigil.
They have also offered to concede the game to
ensure Chapecoense are declared the champions.
In other tributes, Brazilian first division football
teams have offered to lend players to Chapecoense
free of charge for the 2017 season, and asked the
league to protect the club from relegation for the
next three years.
Leading footballers, from Barcelona stars Lionel
Messi and Neymar, to Manchester United's Wayne
Rooney, have also paid tribute to the players.
Alongside the fotball team, there were also 21
journalists on board the doomed flight - including
well-known Brazilian commentator and ex-
footballer Mario Sergio Pontes de Paiva.
Three of the six survivors are footballers:
Defender Alan Ruschel, who suffered spinal
injuries
Defender Helio Zampier Neto, who has injuries
to his skull and chest
Reserve goalkeeper Jakson Follman, who has
had his right leg amputated and is said to be in
a stable condition
Two crew members, Ximena Suarez and Erwin
Tumiri, and journalist Rafael Valmorbida were also
among the survivors.
Chapeco's mayor and the manager's son were
among four people who had been on the passenger
manifest but did not make the flight. "Only God
knows why I ended up staying behind," Mayor
Luciano Buligon told Brazil's TV Globo.
Hailing from a small city of less than 200,000
inhabitants, Chapecoense football club had become
an unlikely success stories in recent years,
reaching Brazil's Serie A in 2014 and beating more
established teams.
Last week, it became the first Brazilian team in
three years to make it to the final of the Copa
Sudamericana, South America's second most
important club competition, after beating Argentine
side San Lorenzo.
Shortly before boarding the flight in Sao Paulo,
Chapecoense manager Cadu Gaucho, 36, appeared
in a video posted on the team's Facebook site [in
Portuguese] describing the trip to Medellin as "the
club's most important to date".
One of the founders of the club, Alvadir Pelisser,
told BBC Brasil the tragedy had put an "end to
everyone's dream". "We were a family, I'm
shocked," he added.