Plane Crash - The Skimm

THE STORY Last night, a chartered plane carrying a Brazilian professional soccer team crashed in Colombia. 76 people were killed. THE WHAT The plane was traveling from Santa Cruz, Bolivia to Medellin, Colombia. It declared an emergency at around 10pm ET because of an electrical failure. Weather conditions were so bad that rescue operations had to be suspended because of low visibility at one point. Five passengers survived the crash. THE WHO The Brazilian team – called Chapecoense – was on its way to play in the finals of a regional tournament, and in the middle of a Cinderella season. The small-town squad had only been in Brazil’s top division for two years. And this year, they made it into the Copa Sudamerica finals (aka a BF soccer D) after defeating a few well known teams. A soccer club official said “Chapecoense was the biggest source of happiness” in the area. theSKIMM What was supposed to be a celebration for a Brazilian city just turned into a massive tragedy. Now, everyone’s waiting for answers as to how exactly this could have happened.