Chapecoense plane crash survivor Helio Neto told about death of teammates after waking from coma
One of three Chapecoense football players who survived a plane crash that nearly wiped out the entire team has been told of his teammates’ deaths.
Helio Neto was informed of the scale of the tragedy 13 days after the passenger jet crashed into a mountain while en route to Medellin, Colombia.
Neto, 31, was one of six survivors of the crash , which claimed the lives of 71 people, including many players and staff from the top flight Brazilian club.
The central defender woke up from a coma at the weekend with no memory of the accident, and doctors had initially decided to withhold information about the crash until he was capable of handling the emotional shock.
The plane crashed as Chapecoense was on its way to Medellin for the biggest game in its history – the first leg of the Copa Sudamericana against Medellin’s Atletico Nacional.
After Neto came out of the coma he reportedly asked a doctor about the result of the game.
On Monday night the medical team treating him broke the news that all but two of his friends and teammates perished in the accident involving a chartered LaMia Airlines plane.
