Sport’s most tragic flights that killed stars – cannibals to watery grave
The world of football was shaken to its core in 1958 when an extraordinary generation of players was tragically lost at the peak of their powers. The Munich Air Disaster claimed the lives of Manchester United’s exceptionally talented young squad, affectionately known as the “Busby Babes” after their legendary manager, Matt Busby.
It remains one of the most heartbreaking moments in sporting history, freezing a golden era in time. However, this devastating runway crash is far from the only aviation catastrophe to cast a dark shadow over the athletic world.
From entire teams wiped out in an instant to champions lost in remote landscapes, the skies have repeatedly played host to unimaginable sporting grief. Here, the Star takes a look at some of the most harrowing aerial disasters that changed the world of sport forever.
Chilling end
On February 6, 1958, in wintry conditions, a liner sped down the runway at Munich Airport carrying Matt Busby’s Man Utd team. The First Division title holders had just secured their place at the semi-finals of the European Cup in Belgrade and the gifted young side were nicknamed the Busby Babes.
But slush meant the plane failed to lift off. The aircraft careered through a perimeter fence, the tail was wrenched off and an explosion ripped through the fuselage. Flight 609’s demise would see 23 people die, including eight players. Injured 21-year-old ace Duncan Edwards died days later. Busby and future World Cup winner Bobby Charlton survived.
Peak drama
When Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 crashed 11,000ft up in the lofty Andes range in South America on October 13, 1972, survival of any of its 45 passengers seemed unlikely. Among them were 19 members of Montevideo’s Old Christians rugby team on their way from Uruguay to Chile for a match.
Twelve people died on impact, then more from cold and an avalanche. But 16 survived through resorting to cannibalism and the efforts of two players, Fernando Parrado and Roberto Canessa, who bravely trekked across the mountains to seek rescue after 72 days. The events were made into a 1993 film called Alive starring Ethan Hawke.
Skate shock
As a Sabena Boeing 707 made its approach to Brussels Airport on February 15, 1961, it suddenly plunged into a field killing all 72 people aboard. Among the victims were the entire American figure skating team who had been on their way from New York to the World Figure Skating Championships in Prague.
The 18-strong team included 16-year-old Laurence Owen, who had won the women’s title at the US Championships weeks earlier. Why Flight 548 crashed remains a mystery.
Watery grave
Top football team Alianza Lima were closing in on the Peruvian championships when they flew into Callao airport on a chartered navy plane on December 8, 1987. But the plane, suffering landing gear problems, crashed into the Pacific Ocean on descent after one of its wings clipped the water.
Of 44 people on board, only the pilot survived after spending 11 hours in the water. Sixteen players and the coach died.
Lost heroes
They had claimed three straight Serie A titles in Italy, but Torino FC’s glorious run ended in catastrophe when a Fiat plane carrying the team slammed into a hill at Superga near Turin on May 4, 1949. The aircraft, on its way back from a match in Lisbon, Portugal, crashed in poor visibility and all 31 people on board died – with 18 Torino players among the list of casualties.
It sent shockwaves through football and the side was awarded a fourth championship, even though the season hadn’t ended.
Doomed transfer
After Cardiff City FC signed Argentinian striker Emiliano Sala, from Nantes for £15million, he flew from the French city bound for Wales on a small Piper Malibu plane to join the Welsh club. But on the evening of January 21, 2019, pilot David Ibbotson lost control of the aircraft while flying over the English Channel.
In a phone message Sala said the aircraft seemed to be falling to pieces and admitted: “I’m scared.” The 28-year-old’s body would later be recovered from wreckage on the seabed.
Other sporting stars to die in smaller craft crashes include US golfer Payne Stewart, 42, in 1999, boxing champ Rocky Marciano, 45, in 1969 and British F1 driver Graham Hill, 46, in 1975.
Chopper tragedies
Top sporting figures have also died before their time in helicopter crashes. Basketball legend Kobe Bryant, 41, was killed along with his daughter Gianna and seven others in a crash in California in 2020.
Rally car champ Colin McRae died in 2007 along with his son and two other people, while at the controls of a machine that fell to earth in Scotland. He had been flying too low. French Olympic gold medal swimmer Camille Muffat, 25, died when two helicopters collided in 2015 during filming of a reality TV show.
Thai billionaire Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, owner of Leicester City FC, was killed in 2018, along with four others, when the chopper he was on crashed in a fireball near the club’s stadium after a match. It echoed the death of five people, including Chelsea vice-chairman Matthew Harding, in a helicopter crash in Cheshire in 1996.
For the latest breaking news and stories from across the globe from the Daily Star, sign up for our newsletters.
