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Bolivia demands air traffic controller in Colombia crash be expelled from Brazil Air traffic controller who had revealed cause of Colombia crash flees to Brazil
(about 5 hours later)
Bolivia’s government has demanded Brazil expel a Bolivian air traffic controller who travelled there to provide authorities information about the crash of a plane in Colombia that killed most members of a Brazilian soccer club. The airplane crash that decimated the Chapecoense football team has threatened to stir up a diplomatic storm after the Bolivian air traffic controller who revealed irregularities about the flight requested asylum in Brazil.
The Bolivian interior minister, Carlos Romero, said Celia Castedo had illegally bypassed migration controls on her way out of the country in an attempt to flee justice. He said Castedo was being sought as part of a broad investigation into Bolivia’s air travel authority after the 28 November crash. Celia Castedo, an official from the Viru Viru airport in Santa Cruz fled across the border rather than face an investigation by Bolivian authorities who suspect the small LaMia chartered plane took off with a flight plan showing the intended route would push the limits of the plane’s maximum possible flight time.
“There is no argument to justify an asylum request,” Romero said on Tuesday. “Logically, in a case like this there should be a process of automatic expulsion [from Brazil].” Seventy-one people died when the aircraft fell from the sky just short of its destination of Medellín, where Chapecoense – a Brazilian team – had been due to play in the final of the Copa Sudamericana.
Federal prosecutors in Brazil said late on Monday that the woman had come to them in the border city of Corumba after the Bolivian air travel authority accused her of negligence. Castedo said the accident could have been prevented if her warnings were heeded in Bolivia, where the plane had made a stopover. She told Brazilian officials she needed asylum to avoid repercussions from the authorities.
The Brazilian TV station Globo reported Castedo was seeking asylum in Brazil and that she had questioned a flight plan showing the intended route would push the limits of the plane’s maximum possible flight time. However, Bolivian interior minister Carlos Romero said Castedo had crossed the border illegally to avoid justice. She is accused of negligence for allegedly approving the flight.
Bolivian authorities on Thursday suspended the license of the tiny charter airline that was bringing the Chapecoense club to the finals of the Copa Sudamericana. The crash killed 71 people and left six others seriously injured. “There is no argument to justify an asylum request,” Romero told reporters. “Logically, in a case like this there should be a process of automatic expulsion (from Brazil).”
Bolivia’s government has replaced the management of its air travel authority in order to ensure a transparent investigation. Several high-ranking aviation officials have already been suspended in Bolivia. The government there also filed a lawsuit against LaMia on Monday.
Brazilian prosecutors said they would meet on Wednesday with their Colombian and Bolivian peers to investigate the crash. While Brazilian officials consider Castedo’s request for refuge, prosecutors from the two countries will meet to discuss how to cooperate on the investigation.
The main focus is likely to be the captain of the flight Miguel Quiroga, who was also one of the owners of LaMia. Investigators will examine allegations that his business interests may have prompted him to buy the minimum amount of fuel for the journey, rather than add sufficient extra to account for delays and diversions – as is stipulated in aviation regulations. A planned refueling stop was also abandoned.
Further muddying the waters are reports in the Spanish and Brazilian media this week that claim Quiroga was due to go on trial for abandoning the air force.
Survivors said the pilot did not tell the passengers they faced an emergency situation.
“We all believed we were going to land,” Bolivian flight technician Erwin Tumiri, told a news conference on Monday in Cochabamba, where he is being treated for injuries.
“The pilot had already announced the landing and we were waiting for that,” Tumiri said.
The football players, he said, were happily listening to music as the plane descended.