Columbian authorities report that an aircraft carrying 81 people on board, including football players from Brazil has crashed in Colombia, saying there are six survivors.

The plane which was conveying Brazil's first division Chapecoense Real football team along with 72 passengers and nine crew members, crashed late Monday near the Colombian city of Medellin. The football team was due to play in a final for the South American Cup in Medellin on Wednesday.

The aircraft, a British Aerospace 146 short-haul plane operated by a Bolivian charter airline named Lamia, crashed in an area called Cerro Gordo about 50 km from Medellin, Colombia's second largest city. Local radio said the same aircraft transported Argentina's national squad for a match earlier this month in Brazil.

Aviation authorities said the aircraft declared an emergency at 10 p.m. Monday (0300 GMT) due to an electrical failure. A Colombian mayor had earlier said the plane appeared to have run out of fuel.

Colombian authorities said rescuers were removing survivors from the crash site. The Medellin airport said the crash site could only be reached by road because of bad weather in the area

The Mayor of Medellin Federico Gutierrez on his way to the site in a mountainous area outside the city where aircraft crashed said "It's a tragedy of huge proportions."