The dispatcher for a charter flight that crashed in Colombia, killing 71 people, had clashed with Bolivian aviation officials who warned the flight was too long to make without a refuelling stop, Bolivian media reported on Thursday, dpa reported. Lamia Air dispatcher Alex Quispe, who did not survive the crash, refused to change the flight plan, telling Viru Viru Airport civil aviation employee Celia Castedo, "we will make it in less time, don't worry," according to Castedo's notes on the conversation published by Bolivian newspaper El Deber. Lamia's Avro RJ 85 airplane took off Monday evening from the airport in the Bolivian city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra with 77 people aboard, including members of Brazil's Chapecoense football club. The plane was on its way to Medellin, Colombia for the finals of the Copa Sudamericana. It crashed less than 40 kilometers from Medellin minutes after pilot Miguel Quiroga told air traffic controllers it had run out of fuel. As investigations progressed, Bolivia's government Thursday cancelled Lamia's license, Public Works Minister Milton Claros said. Claros said Bolivia would undertake an "exhaustive" investigation into the crash, and into why Lamia Air was issued a license at all.
