LA PAZ: Bolivian officials arrested the head of LAMIA Airlines on Tuesday after a crash involving one of the charter firm’s planes which killed a Brazilian football team and dozens of others. Gustavo Vargas, director general of the Bolivian charter firm, was arrested as part of a probe into the Nov 29 crash which claimed the lives of 71 people, including all but a handful of players from Chapecoense Real football club.

“There was an arrest order for the director of the company,” said prosecutor Ivan Quintanilla, who told reporters he had issued arrest orders for six people in connection with the crash, including a secretary and a mechanic at the airline.

Chapecoense had been enjoying a fairy tale season until the crash, and at the time of the accident were en route to a championship game which they were tipped to win. The flight crashed into the Colombian mountains not far from the city of Medellin. Of 77 people onboard, 71 were killed.

Meanwhile, officials said a senior Bolivian aviation official who authorised the flight, Celia Castedo, had fled the country and was seeking asylum in Brazil. “Celia sought refuge in Brazil yesterday in [the town of] Corumba” in Mato Grosso state near the border of Bolivia, a government official said.

Published in Dawn December 8th, 2016