DHAKA: An airplane with 81 people on board, including players from a Brazilian football team heading to Colombia for a regional tournament final, has crashed on its way to Medellin’s international airport.

Medellin’s Mayor Federico Gutierrez said that it is possible there are survivors, reports The Telegraph.

“It’s a tragedy of huge proportions,” Gutierrez told Blu Radio on his way to the site in a mountainous area outside the city where the chartered aircraft is believed to have crashed shortly before midnight local time.

He said on Twitter that ambulances and rescuers were on their way. It is not clear what caused the crash.

The Colombian Civil Aviation Authority said that the Lamia Airlines aircraft “had issues over El Cerro Gordo, close to La Union in the state of Antioqiua”.

Medellin’s airport confirmed that the aircraft, which departed from Bolivia, was transporting the Chapecoense football team from southern Brazil, which was scheduled to play the Copa Sudamerica finals against Atletico Nacional on Wednesday in Colombia’s Medellin.

The aviation authority also confirmed the presence of the footballers on board.

“Confirmed, the aircraft license number CP2933 was carrying the team @ChapecoenseReal. Apparently there are survivors,” the Jose Maria Cordova de Rionegro airport, which serves Medellin, said on its Twitter account.

BDST: 1145 HRS, NOV 29, 2016
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