Human error led to Colombia soccer plane crash -authorities

Human error was accountable for the aircraft crash in Columbia that killed 71 individuals final month, Columbian aviation authorities have introduced.

Errors by the pilot, airline and Bolivian regulators had been at fault when it crashed on a wooded hillside close to Medellin, killing most of Brazil's Chapecoense soccer group.

The pilot didn't refuel en route and didn't report engine failures attributable to the shortage of gasoline till it was too late, officers stated.

Human error was accountable for the aircraft crash in Columbia that killed 71 individuals final month, Columbian aviation authorities have introduced

'No technical issue was a part of the accident, all the pieces concerned human error, added to a administration issue within the firm's administration and the administration and group of the flight plans by the authorities in Bolivia,' Colombia's Secretary for Air Security Colonel Freddy Bonilla advised journalists.

Aviation authorities in Bolivia and Bolivia-based constitution firm LaMia 'accepted situations for the flight introduced within the flight plan that had been unacceptable,' Bonilla added.

In addition to a scarcity of gasoline, the aircraft was over its weight restrict by practically 881lbs (400kg) and was not licensed to fly on the altitude at which the journey passed off, Bonilla stated.

The preliminary conclusions of Colombia's investigation coincide with assertions by Bolivian authorities final week that LaMia and the aircraft's pilot had been straight liable for the accident.

The pilot didn't refuel en route and didn't report engine failures attributable to the shortage of gasoline till it was too late, officers stated

Pilot Miguel Quiroga was additionally a co-owner of the airline and was killed within the crash.

Gustavo Vargas Gamboa, LaMia's chief govt, was jailed pending trial earlier this month on manslaughter and different expenses, which he has denied.

His son Gustavo Vargas Villegas, a former official with Bolivia's aviation authority, can be being held on expenses that he misused his affect in authorizing the license of the aircraft that crashed. He additionally says he's harmless.

Prison expenses have additionally been introduced in opposition to LaMia co-owner Marco Antonio Rocha Benegas, whose whereabouts are unknown, and air site visitors controller Celia Castedo, who fled Bolivia after the crash and is in search of asylum in Brazil.

Bolivian authorities have stated the crash was an remoted incident, however that the federal government will speed up the method of implementing a brand new security system. Colombian investigators have the ultimate phrase on causes of the crash, Bolivian authorities have stated.

The plane had been transporting the Chapecoense group to the most important recreation in its historical past, the ultimate of the Copa Sudamericana.

All however three of the gamers and employees onboard had been killed. Two crew members and one reporter additionally survived.

(Reporting by Carlos Vargas, Nelson Bocanegra and Julia Symmes Cobb; Enhancing by Alan Crosby)