Chapecoense crash: The four people who skipped the flight

Four people who were due to board the plane that crashed, killing 71 people in Colombia, have revealed how last-minute changes stopped them from getting on the flight.

The Lamia 2933 flight, carrying Brazilian football team Chapecoense, crashed late Monday near Medellin. Six of the 77 people on board survived.
Gelson Merisio, a state legislator for Santa Catarina and an ardent fan of the Brazilian club, planned to travel with the players to watch them take on Atletico Nacional in the first leg of its Copa Sudamericana final.

Merisio, 50, had been looking forward to the game only to switch his plans late on because of work commitments.
“I want to be clear, that while I was scheduled to fly on the plane with the team, I opted not to do it due to work obligations this week,” he wrote in a statement on Facebook.

Later, after the severity of the crash became evident, he paid tribute to those who lost their lives.
Just three players, Jackson Ragnar Follmann, Alan Ruschel and Helio Hermito Zampier Neto, survived the crash. Three others, two crew members and a reporter also survived.

Doctors in Medellin amputated Follmann’s right leg and he is currently in the hospital’s intensive care unit, according to Juan David Arteaga, the Undersecretary of Social Protection for the state of Antioquia.
Arteaga says that Neto is under observation following multiple surgeries and Alan Ruschel is in the ICU