How guests of Chapecoense avoided the accident by a miracle

Matheus Saroli, son of the club's coach, Caio Junior, travelled with his father to Sao Paulo to fly with the squad, but couldn't board the plane as he forgot his passport.

After hearing of his father's death, the young man asked for privacy in a message posted on social media.

"We are strong and we will get over this. Thank you to everybody," he said.

The president of the Legislative Assembly of Santa Catarina, Gelson Merisio, opted not to get on the plane at the last minute due to political commitments.

The mayor of Chapeco, Luciano Buligon, arrived to ravel to Sao Paulo to fly with the rest of the club, but changed his mind before boarding the plane and decided to delay his flight until today.

Buligon explained that before leaving, he spoke with the club's president regarding the team's return and promised to help them find a direct flight to Chapeco.

76 out of the 81 people on the flight, which crashed in Medellin, are dead. Among them are many Chapecoense players, who were on their way to play the first match of the Copa Sudamericana against Colombian side Atletico Nacional.

The plane belonged to Bolivian company 'Lamia' and had been chartered by Chapecoense for what would be their first international tournament final in their 43 years of history.

The president of Brazil, Michel Temer, ordered three days of mourning and offered four Brazilian Air Force aeroplanes to families of the victims so that they could travel to Medellin.