Chapecoense Survivor Says Changing Places Saved Him

2024 Author: Steven Freeman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 08:15

The forward player of the Chapecoense soccer team, Alan Ruschel, believes that changing seats at the last minute may have been the factor that saved his life in the fateful plane crash of November 28 in the vicinity of Medellín, Colombia. We recall that that day all the players of that team traveled on a LaMia flight to play the final of the South American Cup against Atlético Nacional in that country.

In his first press conference on Saturday, held in the state of Santa Catarina, Brazil, the Chapecoense defender revealed that he had sat in the back of the plane, but Cadu Gaúcho, a team manager, asked him to sit more. Go ahead and leave the journalists together in that part of the plane. "I didn't want to, but then I saw Jackson Follman (team goalkeeper) and he insisted that I sit next to him," he said.

Thanks to that change, the 27-year-old athlete is one of the six survivors of that incident and now he can thank that miracle: “I have no words to explain what I am feeling. It is a mixture of feelings, a great joy to be able to be here again, sitting here. But at the same time it is a mourning for having lost many friends, he said between sobs.

Ruschel said he wants to return to Colombia to thank the doctors who treated him there for the fact that he is alive. He also wants to personally visit each of the families of his deceased teammates. And he promised to play again soon.

"As a lesson, this tragedy teaches that you have to keep living," he declared. “You must take advantage of some things and behave well with others. When I got here today (this Saturday), I had a feeling that I was coming home. I promise to give this team a lot of happiness. With a lot of effort and hard work, I will return to play soon,”he said.

Shortly before leaving the hospital, the grateful athlete had also placed an emotional message on his Instagram account, which appears reproduced on these lines. It begins with a humble reflection: “God's plans are greater than mine. They are so big that I can't even imagine them…”.

His fans are closely following the progress of his convalescence and seeing him again on the pitch in the not too distant future will surely be a memorable moment.