A Bolivian government investigation into the plane crash that killed nearly the entire Chapecoense soccer team has concluded the pilot and charter company were to blame.
Public Works Minister Milton Claros said in a news conference Tuesday that a “chain of errors” made up of bad decisions by owner LaMia and the pilot caused the crash and that it was an isolated incident, The Wall Street Journal reported.
The government’s investigation found the plane ran out of fuel before it crashed near Medellin, Colombia, on Nov. 28, killing 71 of the 77 people on board. The plane did not have enough fuel to fly 2,000 miles without stopping, yet the flight plan was approved by Aasana, Bolivia’s airport authority.
Miguel Quiroga, the plane’s pilot and co-owner of LaMia who also prepared the flight plan, died in the crash. Celia Castedo, the Bolivian official who approved the flight plan, fled to Brazil and is seeking asylum, according to the WSJ. The co-owner of LaMia, Gustavo Vargas, was detained earlier in the month by Bolivian authorities.
Claros said the government is instituting a new safety system and increasing its oversight over the aviation sector following the crash and will be taking actions against those responsible for the accident, the WSJ reported.
The Brazilian website G1 reported LaMia will compensate survivors of those killed in the Chapecoense plane crash in the amount of $165,000 each, through its insurance company.
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