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A plane crash. Football players die. The whole world mourns.
It’s unbelievable but true. They are gone. 

The year was 1993, I was only 9 years when news reached to me in the morning that the Buffalo plane carrying the Zambia National Team had crashed off the coast of Gabon killing everyone on board.

So much talent taken at once.

So hard to take in.

Fast forward to 2016, November 29, I was sifting through my newsfeed when I stumbled upon a headline, “Plane carrying Brazilian team goes missing in Colombia.”

Immediately I was taken back to the painful memory of 1993, and my spirit was praying, and hoping it was nothing serious.

Suddenly, the story was all over, social media and conventional media outlets.

Tragedy struck, as a group of players and officials on their way to play in the final of the Copa Sudamericana died in the crash. 

In total, 71 people were killed when a chartered plane carrying players and staff from the Brazilian football team for their Copa Sudamericana final first-leg match against Atletico Nacional crashed en route to Medellin, Colombia.

Colombian officials have revised the death toll down from 75 after learning four people did not board the plane.

Six people, including Chapecoense players Alan Ruschel, Jackson Follmann and Helio Hermito Zampier Neto were named as survivors from a tragedy that drew words of sympathy from across the football world.

Such a terrible loss to football, a group of talented players  taken in an instant. It is so hard to take in at once. 

Our prayers are with the families of departed ones.

Kelvin Trudeau Musako

Football Journalist | TotalEnergies AFCON 2021 Photographer | Media Officer - Kabwe Warriors FC | Graphic Designer | Videographer