According to a leaked audio recording, the plane that crashed with Brazilian footballers was preparing for an emergency landing after running out of fuel. The pilot of the plane was heard crying out "total electric failure" and "lack of fuel" in the leaked conversation between the flight crew and a Colombian air traffic controller.
The account of the final moments inside the plain by a flight technician who survived suggests that the fatalities could have been fewer if everyone followed the safety procedures.
Bolivian flight technician Erwin Tumiri said he escaped with injuries because he strictly followed security procedure, even as others panicked. "Many passengers got up from their seats and started yelling ... I put the bag between my legs and went into the fetal position as recommended," he told Colombia's Radio Caracol, according to Reuters.
As the AMIA Bolivia charter aircraft crashed near Medellin in Colombia, 71 people including almost entire Brazilian Serie A football team Chapecoense Real died.
The leaked tape relives the final panicky moments inside the plane. "Miss, LAMIA 933 is in total failure, total electrical failure, without fuel," Bolivian pilot Miguel Quiroga told the control tower operator at Medellin's airport. "Fuel emergency, Miss," he said. "Mayday mayday ... Help us get to the runway ... Help, help," the co pilot of another plane flying nearby heard the flight crew saying.
Before the conversation ends the pilot is head saying he is flying at an altitude of 9,000ft. And before long, the BAe 146 plane, made by BAE Systems Plc, crashed into the a mountainside. According to a flight attendant who survived, the lights went out a minute before the plane crashed.
