A chartered aircraft with 81 people on board, including a Brazilian first division football team heading to Colombia, has crashed on its way to Medellin’s international airport.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the team was going to Colombia for a regional tournament final.
Aviation authorities said there are however reports of at least six survivors.
“It’s a tragedy of huge proportions,” an Associated Press (AP) report from Bogota in Colombia quoted the Medellin Mayor Federico Gutierrez as telling a local radio station.
He was on his way to the site in a mountainous area outside the city where the aircraft crashed.
Aviation authorities said the British Aerospace 146 short-haul plane declared an emergency at 10pm Monday (0300 Tuesday GMT) due to an electrical failure.
The plane was operated by a Bolivian charter airline named Lamia.
Authorities and rescuers were immediately activated but an air force helicopter had to turn back because of low visibility. (NAN)
