Daily Times

BOGOTA: The plane crash in Colombia involving a Brazilian football team – Chapecoense Real – left 76 people dead.

However, this is far from the first such tragedy to strike the world of sport. Here is a look at six similar tragedies:

– ‘Italy’s Torino Grande (1949)’–

A plane carrying famed Italian football club ‘Torino Grande’ crashed on its way back from Portugal – on May 4, 1949 – killing all the 31 passengers and crew. A reported million people poured into the streets of Turin to bid farewell to their heroes. The five-time Italian champions’ team’s death had a devastating impact on the Italian national squad as Torino players were its pillars.

–‘Manchester United’s Busby Babes (1958)’–

The two-time English champions reached the European Cup semi-finals with a win in Belgrade, but their plane went down in a snowstorm on February 6, 1958 – after a refuelling stop in Munich. Eight of the ‘Busby Babes’died

–‘US figure skating team (1961)’–

The entire 18-member team died including Coach Maribel Vinson-Owen – an Olympic bronze medallist – when their plane crashed in Belgium on February 15, 1961, on their way to compete at the World Championships in the former Czechoslovakia.

–‘Uruguayan rugby team(1972)’–

Forty members of Uruguay’s Old Christians rugby club were flying with relatives to Chile when their plane went down in the remote mountains on October 13, 1972. 18 people died immediately and another 11 succumbed later – many due to an avalanche that swept over the wreckage.

–‘Peru’s oldest football team(1987)’–

A Peruvian navy plane carrying 43 players and staff from Alianza Lima – the country’s oldest football team – plunged into the ocean off Lima on December 8, 1987.

–‘Russian ice hockey team (2011)’–

The first-division Russian ice hockey team Lokomotiv Yaroslavl were wiped out – including Swedish star Stefan Liv– after their plane crashed just after taking off for a match in Minsk on September 7, 2011.