An aircraft technician who survived a 2016 plane crash that killed 19 Chapecoense players walked away from a deadly bus crash in Bolivia
A survivor of the 2016 plane crash that killed 71 people, including most of the Chapecoense soccer team, walked away from a deadly bus crash in Bolivia on Wednesday.
Thirty-year-old aviation technician Erwin Tumiri told Bolivian newspaper Los Tiempos that he felt "blessed by God" after crawling from the wreckage of a crash that reportedly left 21 people dead.
"I crawled out, my knee was injured, I sat down and said, 'Again, I cannot believe it," Tumiri said.
Tumiri was on his way to work when his bus plunged 500 feet down a hillside in a crash that left 30 others injured. Tumiri said he was conscious when paramedics arrived and that the accident left him with minor bruises.
"I was a little sleepy and listening to music on my cellphone when people started screaming," Tumiri said. "The only thing I could do was grab the seat in front of me and lean on the window so that I didn't move when the bus rolled over, because I knew that was going to happen.
"We turned and turned and there were people who didn't hold on and were thrown about as if it were a washing machine."
Tumiri was among six passengers to survive the crash of LaMia Flight 2933 in Colombia that killed 19 Chapecoense soccer players as the Brazilian club was heading to the 2016 Copa Sudamericana final. Defender Alan Ruschel was the only Chapecoense player to return to the pitch after injuries sustained in the crash forced his two remaining teammates to retire.