A chartered plane carrying a first-division Brazilian soccer team to a historic game slammed into a Colombian hillside Monday night, killing 76 of the 81 people aboard, authorities said.

Six people initially survived the crash, but one died a short time later, Colombia's civil aviation agency said.

The 72 passengers included members of Chapecoense, a Brazilian soccer team that rose from relative obscurity to play in one of South America's most prestigious tournaments. The team had been scheduled to play in the Copa Sudamerica finals against Atletico Nacional on Wednesday in Medellin.