RIO DE JANEIRO: The one journalist among the four survivors of the Chapacoense air disaster has died from a heart attack in Brazil.

Rafael Henzel, 45, was taken ill while playing football with friends in the city of Chapeco in the southern state of Santa Catarina. He was taken to hospital where he died.

Henzel, who had returned to work a year after the crash in Colombia in 2016, had been working for the Oeste Capital radio station.

In 2017, Henzel published a book: Viva Como Se Partiesse de Partida (Live as if You Were Starting out). He wrote about the lessons he had learned about life from the accident. He leaves son and wife.

The club said: “Throughout his brilliant career, Rafael told the story of Chapecoense. He was a symbol of the club’s reconstruction and he will always be remembered in the green and white pages of this institution.”

Henzel was one of six people to survive the crash, which killed 71 of the 77 people on board. The flight was carrying the team to the first leg of the Copa Sudamericana final in Medellin when it crashed into a hillside. Three players also survived the crash.

############