A state burial ceremony has held for the members of the Brazilian football club who tragically died in a plane crash.
More than 100,000 people braved the pouring rain to pay tribute to the 19 players, all from the Chapecoense club, who died in the crash in the Colombian Andes on Monday.
They were heading to the finals of one of Latin America’s most important club tournaments. Out of the 77 passengers on board, 71 were killed.
More than 20,000 rain-drenched mourners jammed themselves inside a modestly-sized stadium, while another 100,000 or so gathered outside – around half the population of Chapeco – all to pay homage to the little club that almost reached the pinnacle of Latin American football.
Others lined the roads as the players’ coffins were driven in a procession from the airport to the stadium memorial.
I’ve been here since early morning,’ Chaiane Lorenzetti, a 19-year-old who worked at a local supermarket often visited by the players, said.
‘I’ll never see some of my customers again. It’s a devastating day that will last forever.’
The players’ bodies arrived on Saturday morning in Chapeco, a small town in southern Brazil, on several cargo planes that flew overnight from Colombia.
Metro UK reports that their coffins were received by soldiers waiting in formation on the tarmac, while Brazilian president Michel Temer joined other dignitaries at the airport.
It has been a heart-wrenching week for the town’s residents and the players’ family members, who have been left stunned by the tragedy.
Hundreds of banners, flags and hand-written messages in Portuguese, Spanish and English were hung around the stadium.
A tent with places for the coffins underneath spanned the width of the football pitch. On top of it was written a sentence from the club’s anthem.
‘In happiness and in the most difficult hours, you are always a winner.’
