The four footballers of the Brazilian club Palmas Football and Regattas who died in a plane crash on Sunday were traveling separately from the rest of the team because they had tested positive for coronavirus, the club reported. The club president was also killed in the crash after the plane suddenly fell to the ground at the end of the runway while taking off in the northern state of Tocantins.
The pilot also died. The players were heading to Goiania, in the central region of the country, to play a match against Vila Nova. The players were traveling on a private plane because they had tested positive for COVID-19, club spokesperson Izabela Martins told The Associated Press. Martins said Sunday would have been his last day of isolation and that the rest of the team would be traveling on a commercial flight.
The victims were identified as president Lucas Meira and players Lucas Praxedes, Guilherme Noé, Ranule and Marcus Molinari, the club said. The pilot was not identified. There were no survivors. The cause of the accident was not immediately known. Tocantins firefighters reported that the twin-engine Baron had a capacity of six occupants. When firefighters arrived at the crash site, 500 meters from the runway, the plane was being consumed by fire. At least two explosions were recorded, according to the official report.
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CBF, Chepecoense and FIFA send a message of condolences
The Brazilian Football Confederation expressed its solidarity with Palmas’ relatives and the club’s fans in an official note, and ordered a minute of silence in all the matches played on Sunday as a sign of mourning.
In 2016, a plane crash killed 19 players from the Chapecoense soccer club. Chapecoense’s plane went down en route to the first final of the club’s South American tournament in Colombia after it ran out of fuel near Medellín. “Unfortunately, we know what this moment of pain is like and we hope that no other group has to feel the same,” Chapecoense said in a statement. “You will not go through this alone.”
FIFA also expressed its condolences to the six victims. “Soccer extends its condolences to the victims and their families at this difficult time,” he said on Twitter. Alejandro Domínguez, president of CONMEBOL, South America’s soccer organization, also offered his condolences. “I deeply regret the plane crash that affected Palmas,” he said on Twitter. “My condolences to all who make up the club, family and friends at this sad time.”
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