Lionel Messi plane crash: Barcelona ace ‘just 18 MINUTES from death’ on Colombia crash plane as reports suggest aircraft almost ran out of fuel

Dec 06, 2016

LIONEL MESSI was just 18 mins from death on the same plane involved in the Chapecoense tragedy, according to reports.

The Barcelona star travelling with the Argentine national squad two weeks before the fatal accident.

Lionel Messi is one of the highest paid footballers in the world, so it's no surprise he is raking it in — Lionel Messi travelled onthe plane involved in Chapecoense tragedy

And Brazilian site Folha de Sao Paulo cited data from FlightRadar 24h to make the shock claim that Messi’s flight was minutes from suffering a similar fate.

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The trip from Brazil to Argentine capital Buenos Aires following the team’s World Cup qualifier against Brazil was airborne for four hours and four minutes.

And the aircraft reportedly could only travel for four hours and 22 minutes fully fuelled.

Argentine authorities insist on a 45-minute difference between flight length and fuel capacity.

Last week the same plane crashed after a refuelling stop on the border between Brazil and Bolivia was abandoned because the airport did not operate after midnight.

The Argentine team pictured on board a team flight earlier this year

Rescue workers rushed to the plane crash site that claimed dozens of lives

The chartered flight travelling to the Copa Sudamericana final had to wait for a landing slot at Medellin airport in Colombia’s capital and ran out of fuel before it was able to land.

Initial reports suggested it had been flying for 20 minutes longer than its maximum capacity.