Brazilian soccer team Chapecoense, heading for the biggest game in their history, were on board a plane that crashed into Colombian jungle, killing 76 people, police said on Tuesday.

A Reuters photographer at the scene said dozens of bodies were laid out and covered with sheets around the wreckage as some 30 rescuers, police and military personnel searched the crash site of the plane that had 81 people aboard.

He said the BAe 146 charter aircraft had split in two with only the nose and wings recognizable and the tail end completely destroyed in the crash on Monday night.