United for one last time, these are the coffins containing the remains of Brazilian footballers killed in the devastating Colombia air crash.
The bodies of Chapecoense players killed when the LaMia airline plane smashed into a mountain have been identified and are being embalmed and prepared for transport by military aircraft back to their homeland.
Heartbreaking pictures show the coffins laid out in the Colombian city’s San Vicente Mortuary with chairs dressed in white left out for grieving friends and relatives.
The caskets are due to arrive in the club’s home city of Chapeco as soon as midday on Friday and be taken directly to the club’s stadium for a collective wake that Brazilian President Michel Temer is expected to attend.
The images of the caskets emerged as the Bolivian Civil Aviation Authority today suspended LaMia from operating.
United for one last time, these are the coffins containing the remains of Brazilian footballers killed in the devastating Colombia air crash
The bodies of Chapecoense players killed when the plane smashed into a mountain have been identified and are being embalmed and prepared for transport by military aircraft back to their homeland
Heartbreaking pictures show the coffins laid out in the Colombian city’s San Vicente Mortuary with chairs dressed in white left out for grieving friends and relatives
The caskets are due to arrive in the club’s home city of Chapeco as soon as midday on Friday and be taken directly to the club’s stadium for a collective wake that Brazilian President Michel Temer is expected to attend
The tributes took place as crash investigators aided by dramatic cockpit recordings were studying why the British-built jet apparently ran out of fuel before slamming into a muddy mountainside just a few miles from Medellin’s international airport
It comes after teammates who did not board the doomed plane broke down in tears as they gathered with family and fans to remember those wiped out in the crash.
The tributes took place as crash investigators aided by dramatic cockpit recordings were studying why the British-built jet apparently ran out of fuel before slamming into a muddy mountainside just a few miles from Medellin’s international airport.
Grieving Chapecoense players huddled together in front of tens of thousands of supporters at the team’s stadium in Chapeco, southern Brazil on the night the club was supposed to be competing in the Copa Sudamericana final.
While the stands were a solid wall of green representing the team colours, the pitch was empty in a poignant reminder that players were due to be lining up for the club’s biggest ever fixture against Atletico Nacional.
Instead of a shot at glory, the team, many of the chief staff, and 20 Brazilian journalists were killed when their charter plane slammed into the ground short of the airport late on Monday.
And instead of sitting excitedly in front of televisions to watch the action in Colombia, the people of Chapeco, a provincial city of about 200,000, trooped into their stadium to mourn and join in prayer.
Heartbreaking pictures show the moment footballers broke down in tears as they gathered with family and fans to remember teammates wiped out in a devastating plane crash in Colombia
Grieving Chapecoense players huddled together in front of tens of thousands of supporters at the team’s stadium in Chapeco, southern Brazil on the night the club was supposed to be competing in the Copa Sudamericana final
The stands were a solid wall of green representing the team colours, but the pitch was empty in a poignant reminder that players were due to be lining up for the club’s biggest ever fixture against Atletico Nacional
Instead of a shot at glory, the team, many of the chief staff, and 20 Brazilian journalists were killed when their charter plane slammed into a mountainside short of the airport late Monday
Players who had not been on the doomed flight, youth academy members, relatives of those killed and throngs upon throngs of ordinary fans joined together, all in the team colours.
There were few dry eyes as a film was projected to pay homage to the dead teammates.
The team had an outsized presence here and its inspiring story of unknowns who rose to take on champions had spread across Brazil.
‘I think this transcends football. It has become something human. This is why I decided to come and pay my respects for the players who left Chapeco with a dream and who will never be forgotten,’ said student Daniel Augusto Barrera, 21.
Instead of sitting excitedly in front of televisions to watch the action in Colombia, the people of Chapeco, a provincial city of about 200,000, trooped into their stadium to mourn and join in ecumenical prayer
Players who had not been on the doomed flight, youth academy members, relatives of those killed and throngs upon throngs of ordinary fans joined together, all in the team colours
There were few dry eyes as a film was projected to pay homage to the dead teammates. Among those attending were devastated relatives of players
The team had an outsized presence here and its inspiring story of unknowns who rose to take on champions had spread across Brazil
With illuminated cell phones aloft, they packed the stadium to its capacity of 20,000 – a tenth of the city’s population – and cheered as their youth players and reserves from the first team did laps around the field
While tributes were held in Brazil, Colombians also turned out in force at Atanasio Girardot Stadium in Medellin to pay their respects
Club leaders said they hope to organise a mass wake at the stadium to give the players a true Chapecoense sendoff. Pictured above were the tributes held in Medellin
More than 100,000 Colombians honor the Chapecoense plane crash