Brazil's Chapecoense air crash widows decry 'abandonment'

The families of Brazilians killed in the Chapecoense air crash are appealing for justice and reparations and said in interviews on Wednesday that they feel “abandoned” by the soccer club and media companies. On the same day that Chapecoense players met the Pope in Rome, representatives from the Association of Families and Friends of the Victims of the Chapecoense Flight said more must be done to help them financially and psychologically. They also demand answers to questions about responsibility for the crash. Seventy-one passengers and crew died when a plane carrying the Chapecoense team crashed in Colombia last Nov. 28. All but three of the players onboard perished, along with dozens of officials and journalists accompanying the team to the final of the Copa Sudamericana in Medellin. Colombian aviation authorities found that Bolivian airline company LaMia had skimped on fuel, causing the plane to plummet into a mountainside before it could reach the airport. The airline’s CE, who was jailed pending a trial for manslaughter, denies the charges. The company’s co-owner was the plane’s pilot and died in the crash. One of the association’s main complaints is that the club insisted on hiring LaMia even after the company’s methods were questioned by players.<br/>