Plane Carrying Peru’s Top Soccer Team Crashes, 43 Die

A plane carrying Peru’s No. 1 soccer team crashed into the Pacific Ocean, and authorities said Wednesday that the only survivor among 44 people aboard appeared to be the pilot, who clung to a seat cushion in the frigid water for about 11 hours.

Authorities said they feared that 43 people, including the 29 players, coaches and trainers of the soccer team Alianza Lima, were killed when the plane plummeted into the ocean Tuesday night. Rescuers pulled the pilot of the Fokker F-27 from the Pacific early Wednesday.

Others aboard included eight fans of the team and seven crew members, authorities said.

“All of Peru is in mourning,” said German Leguia, a Peruvian soccer player.

Relatives, Fans Gather

Sobbing family members and fans crowded outside the hospital where the pilot was taken and around the team’s headquarters in downtown Lima.

No foreigners were believed aboard the plane, offered by the navy to take Alianza Lima to a match Tuesday after team directors complained there were no seats aboard commercial flights, airport sources said.

The propeller-driven, twin-engine plane plunged into the ocean six miles northwest of Lima’s Jorge Chavez International Airport on Tuesday night, the navy reported.

The plane was returning to Lima from Pucallpa, an Amazon jungle city 305 miles northeast of the capital, where Alianza Lima won a match against Deportivo Pucallpa on Tuesday to consolidate its lead in a 16-team national league.

Air traffic controllers in Lima said the pilot radioed as he prepared to land, saying that a control light had malfunctioned and that he was not sure if the plane’s landing gear had lowered.

Controllers using binoculars confirmed that the landing gear was down but too late for the aircraft to land, airport manager Marco Aurelio Gonzales said. Controllers ordered the pilot to circle over the ocean and approach the airport again, but they then lost radio contact with the plane, he said.

Rescuers in naval helicopters and boats fought thick fog and heavy surf through the night in search of the plane. Rescuers plucked the pilot, navy Lt. Eduardo Erick Villar, 26, from the ocean 1 1/2 miles off Ventanilla beach early Wednesday.

One official said that Villar clung to a seat containing a flotation device through the night until rescued. The extent of his injuries was not disclosed.

Villar told rescuers at least two other crew members clung to wreckage from the aircraft but disappeared after being battered for hours by waves, authorities said.

Eight bodies were recovered amid floating wreckage in the ocean, the state news agency Andina said.

The best-known Alianza team member was its coach, Marcos Calderon, considered the best Peruvian soccer coach of all time. Calderon led the national team that took Peru to the quarterfinals of the World Cup in 1978. Calderon also had coached soccer teams in Ecuador, Bolivia, Venezuela and Colombia.