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All Bodies, Survivors Recovered at Plane Crash Site as Brazil Mourns

Brazil's president declared three days of mourning after the plane crash that killed much of the Brazilian soccer team Chapecoense on Monday night.
Image: Chapecoense fans attend a mass for victims of plane crash
Chapecoense fans attend a mass Tuesday in Chapeco, Brazil.Fernando Bizerra Jr. / EPA

Authorities in Colombia said Tuesday that all bodies and survivors from a plane crash that killed much of the Brazilian soccer team Chapecoense have been recovered and that the aircraft's black boxes have been retrieved.

The cause of the plane crash Monday night, which killed 71 of 77 people aboard, remains under investigation. Colombia's national Risk Management and Disaster Unit said Tuesday afternoon that the search operation was closed.

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Brazilian President Michel Temer declared three days of mourning, and the United States sent its condolences to the people of Brazil. The Planalto Palace in the Brazilian capital, Brasilia, was lighted up in the team's green color in a sign of solidarity.

Chapecoense had played for years in Brazil's lower leagues before breaking out in 2014, and last week it qualified for the Copa Sudamericana finals, a competition spanning South America.

The team was traveling from Santa Cruz, Bolivia, to Medellin's international airport when the plane it was on crashed around 10 p.m. ET about 18 miles from its destination.

"The American people stand with the people of Brazil and Colombia in this difficult moment," the National Security Council said in a statement.

Image: Leandro Bastos of Chapecoense
Leandro Bastos of Chapecoense's under-15 team sits in the locker room Tuesday at Arena Conda stadium in Chapeco, Brazil.Paulo Whitaker / Reuters

The city of Chapecó mourned Tuesday. Ory Rodrigues, a journalist for Radio Oeste and a friend and colleague of survivor Rafael Henzel, said most of the houses and cars in the city were flying Chapecoense's flag with a black ribbon. Many in the street were wearing team jerseys.

Rodrigues said he was anxious for the bodies to be transported to the city, "because it seems you can't realize it until they're here."

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Gelson Dalla, a member of Chapecoense's board of directors, said the club planned to have a collective funeral in its stadium, Arena Condá, and then to send the bodies to the cities where they are to be buried. Many players weren't from Chapecó.

Meanwhile, club Vice President Ivan Tozzo vowed to rebuild, telling Brazil's Globoesporte website that the team would sign new players.

"We intend on continuing next year," Tozzo said.

Dalla told NBC News that that while the club needs to be rebuilt, "for now our priority is to assist the families."

In a statement published by several of the country's top teams, including league champions Palmeiras, club presidents also said they would lend players to help Chapecoense get back to playing again.

"It is the minimum gesture of solidarity that is within our reach at this point in time but it is borne of the sincerest desire to reconstruct this institution and that part of Brazilian football that was lost today," the statement said.

In a show of sportsmanship, the Colombian club Atlético Nacional, which Chapecoense was traveling to play in the tournament, asked organizers to award the doomed team the title.

In addition to Henzel, the survivors have been identified as players Alan Ruschel, Jackson Ragnar Follmann and Hélio Hermito Zampier, flight attendant Ximena Suarez and aircraft mechanic Erwin Tumiri.