Sixth survivor pulled from wreckage of plane carrying soccer team to Colombia

A sixth survivor was pulled out of the wreckage of a Bolivian airliner that crashed Tuesday near the city of Medellín killing 75 occupants, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said.

"Carlos Ivan Márquez [Colombia's national disaster management director] has confirmed six survivors of the accident carrying #Chapecoense," Santos posted on his official Twitter account. "We pray there may be even more." 

El Tiempo, the country's leading newspaper, identified the sixth person as defender Hélio Hermito Zampier Neto – more frequently referred to as Neto – and said he was found stuffed under the fuselage.

The first to be rescued from the wreckage were Alan Ruschel, the 27-year-old Chapecoense defensive player, and Brazilian journalist Rafael Henze, whose condition remains stable despite several injuries.

The other survivors were Chapecoense players Marcos Danilo Padilha and Jackson Follman and Bolivian stewardess Ximena Suárez.

The plane, with 81 persons aboard, had been carrying the Brazilian Chapecoense team to Medellín to take part in a soccer match.

The British Aerospace 146 short-haul plane, operated by a charter airline named LaMia, declared an emergency and lost radar contact just before 10 p.m. Monday local time because of an electrical failure, aviation authorities said.

The aircraft, which had departed from Santa Cruz, Bolivia, was transporting the Chapecoense soccer team from southern Brazil for the first leg Wednesday of a two-game Copa Sudamericana final against Atlético Nacional of Medellín.

"What was supposed to be a celebration has turned into a tragedy," Medellín Mayor Federico Gutiérrez said from the search and rescue command center.

On-board the plane were 22 players from the Brazilian Chapecoense soccer team, 28 management staff, members of the technical team and special guests, 22 journalists and nine crew members.

The team was flying to Medellín, Colombia, to play in the Copa Sudamerica final against Atlético Nacional.

A search and rescue team had said a sixth male person of approximately 30 years of age, who had been within the fuselage of the aircraft, had been found trapped by wreckage.

Regional police commander José Gerardo Acevedo had earlier told reporters that six people were rescued alive, but one died while receiving medical attention.

Acevedo said no others were found alive and the bodies would be moved once there was natural light.

Brazilian president Michel Temer expressed his solidarity with the team and the dozens of families affected by the tragedy and promised the government would do everything within its reach to help relieve their pain.

The president declared three days of national mourning.

The plane had departed from Brazil on Monday afternoon, making a stopover at Viru Viru airport in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia, and was headed to Medellín, where it reported an emergency due to electrical difficulties to the Aerocivil control tower.

Low visibility meant the crash site was only accessible by road, slowing emergency operations.

Flight details were provided by the Aerocivil as news of the crash began to break.

Temer said Brazil was making four aircraft available to transport victims of the crash back to Brazil.

Chapecoense had chartered the aircraft from Bolivian carrier LaMia to travel to the Copa Sudamerica's 43rd final.