NIGHTMARE

Report: Plane Ran Out of Fuel Before Colombia Crash

Carrying Brazilian soccer team.

The plane that crashed Monday evening in Colombia—killing 71 people, mainly members of a Brazilian soccer team—was running out of fuel when it went down, according to a recording of the pilot's communications with air traffic controllers. The chaotic tape, which was leaked to several local media sources, shows the pilot requesting permission to land the British-built jet because of a lack of fuel and a "total electric failure" when it was eight miles away from the Medellin airport. Just before he went silent, the pilot said he was flying at 9,000 feet. Shortly afterward, the aircraft slammed into the side of a mountainside. The crash killed all but six people on board, one of whom was found hiding under the plane's fuselage. Officials, for the time being, have refused to single out any one cause of the devastating event. Brazil’s Chapecoense soccer team was en route to the Copa Sudamericana finals.