<p align="justify" class="title">Two army helicopters scattered flower petals over a town square Tuesday as part of sad tributes to the upstart Brazilian football team Chapecoense, most of whose players died in a plane crash exactly a year ago.</p>.<p align="justify" class="bodytext">La Union, the town closest to the site of the accident on a mountainside near Medellin, Colombia, hosted a commemorative ceremony.</p>.<p align="justify" class="bodytext">The names of the late players and team staff -- members of a modest squad that was about to play in a championship game -- were read aloud in the town plaza.</p>.<p align="justify" class="bodytext">The crash killed 71 of the 76 people aboard the plane operated by the Bolivian carrier LaMia. The team lost most of its players and coaches. Only three players survived.</p>.<p align="justify" class="bodytext">A probe into the crash determined the plane ran out of fuel and was overloaded.</p>.<p align="justify" class="bodytext">"Glory was close," said Andres Botero, president of Atletico Nacional, the Colombian team that Chapecoense was going to play in the final of the Copa Sudamericana tournament last year.</p>.<p align="justify" class="bodytext">"Tragedy crushed their dream," Botero added.</p>.<p align="justify" class="bodytext">A memorial plaque was unveiled in the town square as part of the remembrance activities, which were also to feature two Masses and flyover of the crash site by a Colombian air force jet.</p>.<p align="justify" class="bodytext">A separate memorial ceremony was planned for just after midnight in the town of Chapeco itself.</p>.<p align="justify" class="bodytext">The plane crash took place a year ago Tuesday Colombia time, early Wednesday Brazil time.</p>.<p align="justify" class="bodytext">An outpouring of tributes came from towering figures in the world of football.</p>.<p align="justify" class="bodytext">"Today my heart is in Chapeco," Brazilian legend Pele wrote on Twitter. "It is a day to remember and pray for those who went to heaven too soon."</p>.<p align="justify" class="bodytext">Current Brazilian star Neymar told Spanish TV, "All of us Brazilians carry them in our hearts."</p>.<p align="justify" class="bodytext">On the road leading to the hill where the plane crashed -- known now as Mount Chapeco -- a farmer named Luis Albeiro Valencia has set up a monument erected to those killed in the tragedy.</p>.<p align="justify" class="bodytext">It is a wooden replica of a plane beside two brick columns. One holds tires from the landing gear of the airliner that went down, the other a deflated football.</p>.<p align="justify" class="bodytext">He said he was given the items in appreciation for helping with rescue operations that horrible night.</p>.<p align="justify" class="bodytext">Of the monument, Albeiro Valencia said: "It is to remember. So people will not forget them, because with time everyone will probably forget this hill."</p>
<p align="justify" class="title">Two army helicopters scattered flower petals over a town square Tuesday as part of sad tributes to the upstart Brazilian football team Chapecoense, most of whose players died in a plane crash exactly a year ago.</p>.<p align="justify" class="bodytext">La Union, the town closest to the site of the accident on a mountainside near Medellin, Colombia, hosted a commemorative ceremony.</p>.<p align="justify" class="bodytext">The names of the late players and team staff -- members of a modest squad that was about to play in a championship game -- were read aloud in the town plaza.</p>.<p align="justify" class="bodytext">The crash killed 71 of the 76 people aboard the plane operated by the Bolivian carrier LaMia. The team lost most of its players and coaches. Only three players survived.</p>.<p align="justify" class="bodytext">A probe into the crash determined the plane ran out of fuel and was overloaded.</p>.<p align="justify" class="bodytext">"Glory was close," said Andres Botero, president of Atletico Nacional, the Colombian team that Chapecoense was going to play in the final of the Copa Sudamericana tournament last year.</p>.<p align="justify" class="bodytext">"Tragedy crushed their dream," Botero added.</p>.<p align="justify" class="bodytext">A memorial plaque was unveiled in the town square as part of the remembrance activities, which were also to feature two Masses and flyover of the crash site by a Colombian air force jet.</p>.<p align="justify" class="bodytext">A separate memorial ceremony was planned for just after midnight in the town of Chapeco itself.</p>.<p align="justify" class="bodytext">The plane crash took place a year ago Tuesday Colombia time, early Wednesday Brazil time.</p>.<p align="justify" class="bodytext">An outpouring of tributes came from towering figures in the world of football.</p>.<p align="justify" class="bodytext">"Today my heart is in Chapeco," Brazilian legend Pele wrote on Twitter. "It is a day to remember and pray for those who went to heaven too soon."</p>.<p align="justify" class="bodytext">Current Brazilian star Neymar told Spanish TV, "All of us Brazilians carry them in our hearts."</p>.<p align="justify" class="bodytext">On the road leading to the hill where the plane crashed -- known now as Mount Chapeco -- a farmer named Luis Albeiro Valencia has set up a monument erected to those killed in the tragedy.</p>.<p align="justify" class="bodytext">It is a wooden replica of a plane beside two brick columns. One holds tires from the landing gear of the airliner that went down, the other a deflated football.</p>.<p align="justify" class="bodytext">He said he was given the items in appreciation for helping with rescue operations that horrible night.</p>.<p align="justify" class="bodytext">Of the monument, Albeiro Valencia said: "It is to remember. So people will not forget them, because with time everyone will probably forget this hill."</p>