CHAPECO, BRAZIL // The bodies of 50 players, coaches and staff from a Brazilian football team tragically wiped out in a plane crash in Colombia arrived home on Saturday for burial.
Fireworks lit up the sky over Chapeco, in southern Brazil, as the Hercules cargo planes touched down in pouring rain. The town is holding a huge funeral to honour its team, Chapecoense Real — an unsung club having a fairy tale season until the plane taking the players to the biggest match in the team’s history ran out of fuel and smashed into the mountains outside Medellin on Monday night.
Dozens of fans kept vigil overnight in the football stadium, the Conda Arena. By dawn fans were lined up around the block which, like most of the buildings in the town, was draped in banners in the team’s green and white colours. Tents were set up on the pitch for some 2,000 family members and close friends of the victims.
An impromptu shrine swelled with fresh flowers and handmade posters as supporters sang raucous football chants over the sombre piped music.
Fans said the wake would provide closure for a town whose excitement at Wednesday night’s cup final had turned to anguish.
“I will only really believe it when we see the coffins and the families,” said Pamela Lopes, 29, who spent the night at the stadium.
Half the town’s population — 100,000 people — were expected to descend on 19,000-capacity Conda Arena, where just 10 days ago Chapecoense were lighting up the pitch.
Inside the stadium, a single set of goalposts remains — the spot where star goalkeeper Marcos Danilo Padilha, 31, made a last-minute save which guaranteed Chapecoense’s place in the final of the Copa Sudamericana.
“It’s a horrible feeling, seeing this and knowing my son will arrive here in a coffin,” said his mother, Ilaide Padilha. “It’s very sad remembering not only that stop (against Argentina’s San Lorenzo), but also ... him running across the grass with his arms wide open. My son was all passion.”
The arrival was delayed by an outpouring of emotion when the plane stopped to refuel in the Amazon city of Manaus. The onward flight took off two hours late because of the crowds that turned up at the airport to pay tribute to the crash victims.
Brazilian President Michel Temer was there to meet the planes in Chapeco and Fifa chief Gianni Infanto cancelled a trip to Australia to attend the memorial.with the Brazilian national team coach.
Three footballers survived the disaster nd other Brazilian clubs have offered players to Capecoense so the club can continue..
Lamia, the Bolivian charter airline operating the British Aeropsace 146 plane which crashed has had its permit suspended while the investigation into the tragedy continues. The pilot’s father-in-law, Roger Pinto Molina, who lives in Brazil, apologised to the Brazilian people in an interview with GloboNews.
“We want to say to millions of Brazilians, especially the families, sons, parents and brothers in Chapeco that we are very sorry,” he said.
A minute’s silence for Chapecoense will be held before every Champions League and Europa League game next week.
* Agence France-Presse
