Head Of LaMia Airline Taken Into Custody In Connection With Accident In Colombia

The head of LaMia Airlines has been arrested in Bolivia in connection with an accident last week that fatally injured 71 people on board one of the carrier's aircraft. Among those who did not survive were most of the Brazilian football (soccer) team Chapecoense.

The BBC reports that Gustavo Vargas has been detained as part of the investigation into the accident. The plane, an Avro RJ85, reportedly ran out of fuel en route to Medellin, Colombia, where the team was scheduled to play in the Sudamericana Cup final against Atletico Nacional. The plane was on approach to land when the accident occurred. On the aircraft's cockpit voice recorder, the pilot of the aircraft, Miguel Quiroga, is heard warning of "total electric failure" and "lack of fuel."

Bolivian official Celia Castedo reportedly cautioned Quiroga before the plane departed that the flight was at the limit of the range of the RJ85. She has sought asylum in Brazil, claiming she is being persecuted. Bolivia is asking for extradition of Castedo, saying she is trying to escape the judicial system.

One of the survivors of the accident, footballer Erwin Tumuri, said that there was a planned fuel stop on the flight at  Cobija in northern Bolivia, but the pilot had opted not to make that fuel stop. The plane could have also landed to refuel in Bogota, Colombia.

According to the flight tracking website flightradar24, the plane stopped in Santa Cruz, Bolivia to transfer passengers to a different aircraft. The pilot of the accident aircraft was reportedly instructed to circle and descend as another plane with a fuel emergency was given priority to land.

(Image from file. Not accident airplane)

FMI: www.aerocivil.gov.co/en-us/Pages