The head of LaMia Airlines — the charter carrier that was transporting Brazilian soccer team Chapecoense before their plane crashed in Colombia last week — has been apprehended by authorities, according to a Bolivian state media report.
The team was on its way to play in the first leg of the Copa Sudamerica finals before the flight went down. More than 70 people were killed.
Gustavo Vargas, the general manager of the airline, and two other employees were detained Tuesday, Ivan Quintanilla — a member of the LaMia investigation commission — told Bolivia’s state-run Bolivian Information Agency.
CNN has attempted to reach Vargas for comment and is trying to get a hold of Bolivian authorities for clarification on possible charges.
The airlines offices in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, also were raided.
Bolivia’s Public Works Ministry already had launched an investigation into LaMia, its owners, and executives.
LaMia Airline’s general manager, Gustavo Vargas Gamboa, and the head of Bolivia’s Civil Aviation National Registry are father and son.
Investigators told CNN that before the crash, a crew member informed air traffic controllers that the plane was in total electric failure and was without fuel.
