Brazil went into mourning yesterday over the loss of 75 people, including most of the players of one the country’s up-and-coming football teams, in a plane crash near the Colombian city of Medellín.
Brazil’s soccer federation delayed all matches for a week and the nation’s feuding politicians put their infighting aside for a day to send their condolences to the families of players and officials from Chapecoense, a club based in the small city of Chapecó in the southern state of Santa Catarina. Three days of mourning have been declared in Brazil.
The Chapecoense players, along with team officials, journalists and others, were on their way to play Colombia’s Atlético Nacional in the final of the Copa Sudamericana when the aircraft crashed on its approach to Medellín airport, said police.