Chapecoense plane crash survivor dies after playing in football match

A Brazilian journalist who was one of six survivors of the Chapecoense team air crash has died after suffering a heart attack while playing in a football match.

Brazilian journalist Rafael Henzel, one of the survivors of the LaMia airplane crash in Colombia, has died after suffering a heart attack Source: AFP

Henzel, 45, collapsed while playing in a social match with friends and was rushed to hospital but died shortly after.

The Journalist was one of only six people to survive a 2016 plane crash in Colombia which killed 71 people including 19 players from Brazilian club side Chapecoense.

The club had chartered the flight to take players, officials and media, including Henzel, to the final of the Copa Sudamericana in the Colombian city of Medellein where they were set to take on Atletico Nacional.

Chapecoense has described the journalist as a "symbol of the club's reconstruction'.

After Henzel's death, Chapecoense appealed to have their cup clash against Criciuma postponed but they were forced to play the match with the Brazilian football federation denying their request.

Chapecoense players Jakson Follmann, Alan Ruschel and Neto, who were the only three squad members to survive the 2016 plane crash, were in attendance at Henzel's funeral. 

The journalist released a book in 2017 about the impact the crash has had on his life titled "Live as if you were about to leave".

Henzel, who had seven ribs broken in the plane crash, said he could not remember the moment of the crash and that he had been the penultimate passenger to be rescued.

"My dream was to come back to my city, feel the ground under my feet. And this finally happened. It was a very special moment."