LONDON: The escalation in the number and intensity of international football club competitions and exhibition friendlies has brought flight tragedies in its wake.

In 1949 the 18-strong squad of Italian champions Torino were among the 31 dead after their plane crashed into the walls of the Superga basilica above Turin on their return from a testimonial match against Benfica in Lisbon;

In 1958 eight Manchester United players – the so-called ‘Busby Babes’ – were among the 23 people who died after their charter plane crashed on take-off in Munich after a refuelling stop on their return home from a European Champions Cup quarter-final against Red Star in Belgrade;

In 1961 eight players from the Chilean club Green Cross were killed in a crash in the Andes; the remains of the plane were not found until 10 ten days after the accident;

In 1969 some 17 players from Bolivia’s The Strongest, 11-times national champions, were among the 78 victims of a crash in Viloco, Bolivia, on the club’s return from a friendly match in Santa Cruz;

In 1979 the 14-strong squad of Soviet top division club Pakhtakor Tashkent, from Uzbekistan, died in a plane crash in Dniprodzerzhynsk which claimed 178 lives;

In 1987 some 16 players of top Peruvian club Alianza were among 43 people who lost their lives when their plane crashed into the sea near Lima;

In 1993 the 18 members of the Zambian national team squad were among 30 dead when their flight came down in Gabon on the way to a World Cup qualifying tie in Senegal.

On November 29, 2016, some players and officials from Brazilian club ACF Chapecoense are feared to have died in a plane crash in Colombia ahead of a Copa Sudamericana final first leg against Atletico Nacional of Medellin.

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