The aircraft, carrying Brazil's Chapecoense Real football team among 72 passengers and nine crew, crashed late Monday near the Colombian city of Medellin.

Colombian authorities said rescuers were removing survivors from the crash site. The Medellin airport said the crash site could only be reached by road because of bad weather in the area.

The aircraft crashed in an area called Cerro Gordo about 50 kilometers from Medellin, Colombia's second largest city.

"It appears that the plane ran out of fuel," Elkin Ospina, the mayor of the nearby town of La Ceja, told the AFP news agency.

The football team was due to play in a final for the South American Cup in Medellin on Wednesday.

S/SH 11