The joys of fatherhood were just too brief for two victims of the Colombia plane crash that decimated almost the entire Brazilian football team on Monday (Nov 28).
Chapecoense squad‘s forward player Tiago da Rocha Vieira, 22, found out he was to become a father – only a week before the disaster.
Also known as Tiaguinho, he was filmed in a hotel with his teammates who handed to him a gift sent from his wife, Graziele.
The video shows him jumping for joy and celebrating with them after finding out from a note attached to the gift that his wife is expecting a baby boy.
The video was posted online by family members, after news reported that the player was one of the 71 people who died in the crash. Their chartered plane had smashed into a mountainside, just 18 miles (28km) short of the airport after reportedly running out of fuel.
Only six survived, including three of the Chapecoense football squad, en route to what could be their biggest game in history: the Copa Sudamericana final.
Pilot suffers same fate as his pilot father, becomes father for third time before crash
The crash also unravelled a tragic twist of fate involving the pilot.
News had emerged that Miguel Quiroga who was flying the chartered plane, lost his own father in a plane crash when he was a baby.
And recently, the 36-year-old had become a dad for the third time just weeks ago, according to his family and friends when interviewed by the media.
Miguel, who was flying the ill-fated LaMia Corporation plane late on Monday (Nov 28), was spurred to follow in his father’s footsteps of becoming a pilot after growing up without him.
Known affectionately as Micky among family and friends, Miguel never forgot his father, even before his death.
Uncannily, he shared a video on the love fathers have for their newborn kids on his Facebook page three days (Nov 25) before the doomed flight. It has garnered nearly 30 million views as of today (Dec 1).
Earlier on Nov 20, he shared a clip from a movie as a tribute to fathers. In his post, he wrote “My dad is amazing. Share if your dad is also in heaven.”
On the same day, he also sent a birthday greeting to his wife with photos of the celebration. “Happy birthday love of my life for one more year of life, may god bless you my love and keep us United for the rest of our lives. Your husband loves you Micky Quiroga, ” he penned.
Bolivian-born Miguel aspired to be a commercial pilot so that he could have better quality of life, said cousin Milena Quiroga. She told a local website that he had recently applied for Brazilian citizenship after setting up the family home in a remote town in Brazil bordering Bolivia.
Recalling how he much he had loved aviation, she said he would eschew social life to study hard to be a pilot like his late father.
He studied at a military college and became a pilot in the Bolivian Air Force. He rose to the rank of “official aviator” before starting a career in commercial aviation.
He went on to co-own the LaMia Corporation, and had commanded flights to Europe and other parts of the world, according to reports.
According to Reuters, Miguel Quiroga could be heard telling the control tower operator at Medellin’s airport on the crackly audio played by Colombian media. “Miss, LAMIA 933 is in total failure, total electrical failure, without fuel.”
“Fuel emergency, Miss,” he added, requesting urgent permission to land. But it was not to be: He suffered the same fate as his father.
chenj@sph.com.sg
Photo GalleryPlane carrying football players crashes in Colombia
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