•Plane carrying 81 including top flight Brazil football team Chapecoense has crashed in Colombia mountains
•Aircraft crashed in Colombia after taking off from a Bolivian airport amid reports of 'electrical problems'
•Early reports suggest there are at least six survivors from the crash including three Chapecoense players
•The team were set to play Copa Sudamerica tournament final on Wednesday as part of a fairy tale season
A plane carrying 72 passengers - including a top Brazilian football team forced to change flights at the last minute - has crashed in remote Colombian mountains amid reports just six have survived.
Brazilian side Chapecoense were on their way from Bolivia to Medellin International Airport in Colombia to play in the Copa Sudamerica final when the plane came down.
The footballers had to change their flight and board the plane that crashed after Brazilian aviation authorities prevented them from taking a charter flight, it has been claimed.
Defender Alan Ruschel, 27, and goalkeepers Jakson Follmann and Danilo, are reported to be among just six survivors from the crash after being pulled alive from the wreckage.
The plane, which was carrying nine crew, crashed at about 10.15pm after suffering power failures while flying through the mountainous Antioquia Department. Local officials said it crashed against a hill and broke in two.
As officials revealed 25 bodies had already been recovered, rescue teams were forced to suspend their operations amid heavy rain in the mountainous region.
Wreckage: A plane carrying 72 passengers including the top flight Brazilian football team Chapecoense has crashed in Colombia
Medical staff from the San Juan de Dios hospital transfer 27-year-old Brazilian footballer Alan Ruschel after he as pulled alive from the wreckage of the crash
Emergency: Alan Ruschel is said to have suffered head injuries in the crash in the remote Colombian mountains
Ambulances ferrying survivors to hospital can only get to within 30 minutes walk of the spot where the plane has crashed near the town of La Unión, it has emerged
Flight path: Images posted online show the moment the plane disappeared from the radar over a remote part of Colombia
Rescuers have faced difficulty reaching the remote crash sites with stretchers being carried down to waiting ambulances
A video published on the Chapecoense Facebook page showed team members readying for the flight earlier on Monday in Sao Paulo's Guarulhos international airport.
The team, from the small city of Chapeco, was in the middle of a fairy tale season. It joined Brazil's first division in 2014 for the first time since the 1970s and made it last week to the Copa Sudamericana finals - the equivalent of the UEFA Europa League tournament - after defeating Argentina's San Lorenzo.
'May God accompany our athletes, officials, journalists and other guests traveling with our delegation' the club said in a brief statement on its Facebook page.
The players looked happy and relaxed as they waited for permission to board.
Ambulances ferrying survivors to hospital can only get to within 30 minutes walk of the spot where the plane has crashed near the town of La Unión, it has emerged.
Rescuers on foot are having to stretcher survivors through fog which prevents them from seeing a few feet in front of them, local radio reported. They are then put into lorries which drive them another 700 metres to the waiting ambulances.
The pilots and cabin crew on board the plane that crashed were all Bolivian while most of the 72 passengers were Brazilian and about40 were part of the Chapecoense delegation.
They included 20 players, the manager Caio Junior and four other members of his coaching team including an assistant manager, a personal trainer, a kinesiologist and a masseur who is said to be among the survivors.
The club's president and vice-president were also on board along with other club managers. The team were only about five minutes from their destination when they crashed.
Defender Alan Ruschel, 27, and goalkeepers Jakson Follmann and Danilo, are reported to be among just six survivors from the crash after being pulled alive from the wreckage. Ruschel (right in the two pictures) is shown taking pictures of the team on a flight
There are reports that 27-year-old defender Alan Ruschel (pictured) was one of just six survivors from the crash and is now being treated in hospital for a broken hip and head injuries
The Chapecoense football team are pictured here on a plane. The footballers had to change their flight and board the plane that crashed after Brazilian aviation authorities prevented them from taking a charter flight, it has been claimed
A video published on the Chapecoense Facebook page showed team members readying for the flight earlier on Monday in Sao Paulo's Guarulhos international airport
Chapecoense players embraced as they prepared to take off from Bolivia and looked in good spirits as they gathered in the terminal
Images from the site reveal the mangled wreckage of the plane and what appears to be a muddied outfit with the emblem of the Chapecoense football team
The plane was flying from Viru Viru airport in Santa Cruz, Bolivia and should have landed at Jose Maria Cordova in Colombia
Some of the lorries are getting stuck in mud which is making the rescue more difficult. Witnesses said they have seen five people rescued so far.
Hypothermia is another concern for those who have survived, because it is only five degrees Celsius.
Video shared on Twitter claimed to have captured the exact moment the plane dropped from the radar. Shocking images also show the mangled wreckage of the plane's wing.
Nearby hospitals have been placed on 'maximum alert' and are preparing for injured passengers to be treated.
A post on the Instagram account of player Filipe Machado (left) showed a picture of an aircraft and a message saying: 'Already in Bolivia, now we're going direct to Medellin, Colombia'
Hypothermia is another concern for those who have survived, beacuse it is only five degrees Celsius
The commander of the Fire Department of La Union reported that at least ten people were being treated at the scene, while the Medellin airport said there were just six survivors
A local mayor in Colombia says that at least three passengers have been rescued alive from the crash site after a plane carrying a Brazilian soccer team went down near Medellin
The chartered aircraft with 81 people on board, including Brazilian first division soccer team Chapecoense which was heading to Colombia for a regional tournament final, crashed on its way to Medellin's international airport
Hugo Botero Lopez, mayor of La Union, told Colombian newspaper El Tiempo: 'There are firemen from La Union, Rionegro, El Carmen de Vibroal, La Ceja, there are more than 90 lifeguards, but it is not easy to get people who are alive.'
Medellin's Mayor Federico Gutierrez said there could be survivors.
'It's a tragedy of huge proportions,' Gutierrez told Blu Radio on his way to the site in a mountainous area outside the city where the chartered aircraft is believed to have crashed shortly before midnight local time.
Local media in Colombia are reporting that a male passenger has arrived in an ambulance to a hospital near Medellin.
The British Aerospace 146 short-haul plane, operated by charter airline LaMia, declared an emergency at 10pm local time on Monday because of an electrical failure
Blu Radio said the passenger arrived on a stretcher with an oxygen mask and covered in a blanket. He appeared to be alive.
'Tonight it was reported that a plane coming from Viru Viru airport in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, which should have landed at Jose Maria Cordova, airport had gone off course,' a Colombian rescue official, Mauricio Parodi, told reporters.
Rescue teams, from firefighters to disaster management officials, have been pressed into the search for survivors, added Parodi, the director of disaster managment for the province of Antioquia.
Poor weather conditions made the crash site accessible only by road, airport authorities at Medellin, where the plane was scheduled to land, said on social network Twitter.
The team joined Brazil's first division in 2014 for the first time since the 1970s and made it last week to the Copa Sudamericana finals - the equivalent of the UEFA Europa League tournament - after defeating Argentina's San Lorenzo
A plane carrying 72 passengers including a Brazilian football team has crashed in Colombia (pictured, Medellin Airport, where the team were travelling to)
Chapecoense were set to play Colombian team Atletico Nacional in the South American club tournament's final on Wednesday, with the return fixture in Brazil on December 7.
It was the first time the small club from Chapeco had ever reached the final of a major South American club competition but they were underdogs against a club going for a rare double after winning the Copa Libertadores in July.
Chapecoense were the 21st biggest club in Brazil in terms of revenue, bringing in 46 million reais ($13.5 million) in 2015, according to an annual rich list compiled by Brazilian bank Itau BBA.
Local radio said the team were due to stay at the four-star Hotel San Fernando, an elegant hotel near Medellin's Botanical Garden.
The South American soccer federation has cancelled all activities until further notice.
The CONMEBOL federation said in a statement that its president, Alejandro Dominguez, is on his way to Medellin.
Atletico Nacional had said on Twitter: 'National deeply regret and sympathise with @ChapecoenseReal for the accident which has happened and await information from authorities.'
HOW CRASH HAS ECHOES OF 1958 MUNICH AIR DISASTER
On 6 February 1958 British European Airways flight 609 crashed on its third attempt to take off from a slush-covered runway at Munich-Riem Airport, West Germany.
On the plane was the Manchester United team, nicknamed the 'Busby Babes', along with supporters and journalists. Sir Bobby Charlton and Matt Busby survived.
Geoff Bent, Roger Byrne, Eddie Colman, Mark Jones, David Pegg, Tommy Taylor, Liam "Billy" Whelan all died. Duncan Edwards survived the crash, but died in hospital 15 days later.
The squad were returning from a European game in Belgrade, Yugoslavia (now Serbia) when they stopped to refuel in Germany.
In total 20 of the 44 on the aircraft died. The injured, some unconscious, were taken to the Rechts der Isar Hospital in Munich where three more died, resulting in 23 fatalities with 21 survivors.
The pilot James Thain was blamed for the crash but it was later established that slush on the runway caused the accident.
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