As many as 75 people, included almost an entire elite Brazilian football team, have died on a charter plane that crashed in the mountains in Colombia.
Seven people were reportedly pulled alive from the wreckage but two have since died, including the team's goalkeeper, BBC reports.
Brazil's President Michel Temer declared three days of mourning for the victims as investigators urgently sought to discover what caused the tragedy.
The LAMIA airlines charter declared an emergency about 10.15pm local time (2.15pm AEDT) on Monday, reporting it had suffered "electrical failures", and crashed a short time later near the city of Medellin.
The plane was carrying members of Chapecoense Real, a Brazilian football club that had risen from obscurity to play in the Copa Sudamericana finals on Wednesday against Atletico Nacional of Colombia.
https://twitter.com/AndresFelipe/status/803485637756198912
"The pain is terrible. Just as we had made it, I will not say to the top, but to have national prominence, a tragedy like this happens. It is very difficult, a very great tragedy," club vice-president Ivan Tozzo told Globo SportTV.
In all, there were 72 passengers and nine crew on board the British Aerospace 146.
There have been conflicting reports of how many people survived the crash, with authorities initially saying five or six had been found alive.
"The rescue of a sixth survivor, player Helio Hermito Zampier Neto, who is in the process of being evacuated, is confirmed. The possibility that other people will be found alive has not been ruled out," Colombia's disaster risk management agency said.
https://twitter.com/AndresFelipe/status/803464610686889988
Two of the survivors are footballers Alan Ruschel, a 27-year-old defender and Jackson Follmann, who were taken to hospitals along with a flight attendant and a journalist.
The football team's goalkeeper, Marcos Danilo Padilla, was pulled from the wreckage alive but later died in hospital, according to reports.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino said this was a very sad day for football.
https://twitter.com/FIFAcom/status/803553604510617600
'Electrical failures'
The LAMIA airlines flight originated in Sao Paulo, Brazil and had made a stop in Santa Cruz, Bolivia before continuing on to Rionegro, a city near Medellin.
It went down about 50km from Medellin, Colombia's second largest city, in an area called Cerro Gordo.
https://twitter.com/flightradar24/status/803472806885421056
Elkin Ospina, the mayor of the town of La Ceja near the crash site, said the mountainous terrain was some 3.3km above sea level and very difficult to access.
Rescuers carrying stretchers had to hike for more than half an hour to reach the site.
On its Twitter account, the airport said a plan to use an air force helicopter had to be shelved because of bad weather in the area.
Ospina said authorities were on the scene and hospitals and medical centers were preparing to receive the injured.
But the bad weather forced the search to be suspended in the early hours Tuesday, with plans to resume at 6am.
Colombia's civil aeronautics agency said it had a team at the airport in response to the crash.
Conmebol, the South American football confederation, meanwhile officially called off the Copa Sudamericana final that was to be played between Chapecoense and Atletico Nacional.
"All activities of the confederation are suspended until further notice," Conmebol said.
Dashed dreams
Chapecoense and Atletico Nacional were supposed to have faced off in Wednesday's first leg of the final of the Copa Sudamericana, the second most prestigious club football tournament in South America after the Copa Libertadores.
Chapecoense had reached the final after completing a victory on away goals last week over Argentinian side San Lorenzo in the semi-finals.
Chapecoense is widely regarded as one of the minnows of Brazilian club football, having been founded relatively recently in 1973 in the city of Chapeco in southern Santa Catarina state.
After decades in the lower divisions, Chapecoense returned to Brazil's top flight Serie A in 2014 for the first time since 1979. The club finished in 14th spot in the 2015 edition of the 20-team championship.
Nine team members did not travel to Colombia.
Two weeks ago, the same plane was used to fly the Argentine national team with Lionel Messi on board to San Juan, Argentina for a World Cup qualifying match.
Atletico Nacional said on its Twitter account it "profoundly laments and expresses solidarity with @chapelcoensereal for the accident that occurred."
You can get breaking news alerts on your phone by downloading our app, 9NEWS Alerts, available on iPhone and Android.