Colombia crash pilot reported 'total electrical failure, no fuel'

Medellín (Colombia) (AFP) – The pilot of a plane that crashed in the Colombian mountains, killing 71 people, radioed the control tower in a panic to report he had run out of fuel, according to a recording aired Wednesday by Colombian media.

“Ma’am, LAMIA 2933 has a total failure, total electrical failure, without fuel,” pilot Miguel Quiroga says in the recording, minutes before the charter flight crashed outside the city of Medellin.

The crash killed most of Brazilian football club Chapecoense and 20 journalists traveling with them to the finals of the Copa Sudamericana, South America’s second-largest club tournament.

The recording was aired by several of Colombia’s top broadcasters and featured on newspaper websites, but authorities have not confirmed its authenticity.

In the tape, the pilot had earlier asked for priority to land due to “fuel problems.”

The request was granted by the control tower at Medellin’s international airport. But the tower then lost contact with the plane, whose fuselage was found plastered on a hillside 50 kilometers (30 miles) outside the city.