The families of Brazilians killed in the Brasileiro side Chapecoense air crash are "appealing for justice and reparations," and said in interviews on Wednesday that they feel “abandoned” by the football club and media companies, according to Andrew Downie of REUTERS. On the same day that Chapecoense players met the Pope in Rome, representatives from the Association of Families and Friends of the Victims of the Chapecoense Flight said that "more must be done to help them financially and psychologically." They also "demand answers to questions about responsibility for the crash." Fabienne Belle, whose husband, Cesar Martins, was the club physiologist, said, "It was an accident waiting to happen. Chapecoense and the companies need to take institutional responsibility for the lives that were taken from us." Colombian aviation authorities found that Bolivian airline company LaMia "skimped on fuel, causing the plane to plummet into a mountainside before it could reach the airport." One of the association's "main complaints" is that the club "insisted on hiring LaMia even after the company's methods were questioned by players." Belle said, "What happened before determined what happened that night. Chapecoense had done this before on many trips. There was a lack of oversight. One of our concerns is educational, to ensure this doesn’t happen again." Chapecoense Communications Dir Fernando Matos said that the club met with the association last week to "discuss many of the points raised but he refused to address specific questions" (REUTERS, 8/30).
