Ximena Suarez, 28, was one of only six survivors after the La Mia flight crashed on its approach to Medellin in Colombia, on November 28 2016
The stewardess who survived the Chapecoense air tragedy has revealed she has to rely on drugs to sleep a year on from the horror crash.
Ximena Suarez, 28, was one of only six survivors after the La Mia flight crashed on its approach to Medellin in Colombia, on November 28 2016.
Seventy one people died in the disaster, including 19 players from Brazilian football team Chapecoense.
Also among the fatalities was 14 of the club’s coaches, nine of its other staff, and 20 journalists.
Ximena Suarez, 28, a mother of two from Bolivia, was the only member of the flight crew to survive.
She moved to the black of the plane as it went down and believes this may have saved her life.
The air stewardess is still haunted by the horrific ordeal and has to take pills to ensure she can sleep at night.
She told Spanish newspaper, El Pais: ‘Some nights they give me nightmares, I can not sleep; I try to leave the pills, but I can not because I wake up at night, so I must continue taking them. These are things that happen, but I know I must be strong.’
Ms Suarez believes divine intervention is the only reason she is still alive.
‘I see that people admire me, I think they see me as a miracle, she said.
‘Some people tell me ”luckily you saved yourself” for me it is not luck is the will of God and obviously I feel sad for having lost my teammates.’
Only three Chapecoense players, Jakson Follmann, Helio Neto and Alan Ruschel, survived the tragedy. Although, only Ruschel has been able to play again.
Ms Suarez said she has to take pills to ensure she can sleep at night, almost a year after the tragedy
Ms Suarez described herself as a ‘miracle of god’ and believes divine intervention saved her
Ms Suarez said that all the survivors are bonded by the trauma of the crash.
‘I consider the survivors as brothers, because that same day of the 28th we were born again, we are a miracle that we have to give testimony to help other people’, she said.
‘I think that is one of the purposes for which we have stayed here, the six of us.’
When asked if she will ever fly again, she said: ‘That depends on my psychologist, on the therapies.’
While Ms Suarez is rebuilding her life, Chapecoense is winning again – and daring to think of the future.
Less than two weeks ago, the reconstructed team, was celebrating victory that assured its place in the Brazilian first division.
Seventy one people died in the disaster, including 19 players from Brazilian football team Chapecoense
A Chapecoense fans mourns the horrific air crash during a gathering inside Arena Conda stadium in Chapeco, Brazil
The new players and the survivors filled the old changing room with laughter and chanting, with videos and pictures posted on social media.
However, while this new squad celebrated its remarkable comeback – it would never reach the dizzying heights of reaching the final of the regional Copa Sudamericana on November 23 last year.
For a humble, scrappy little club from southern Brazil, that night seemed a dream.
But five days later, the plane carrying the squad ran out of fuel as it took the players and coaches to their fixture against Atletico Nacional.
The shock brought Chapeco to a standstill and it looked like the club would never recover.
But the survivors and supporters refused to let the club fold.
Helio Neto and Jakson Follman, two of the surviving Chapecoense players, wave to the crowd before a friendly between the Brazilian club and Barcelona in August 2017
Chapecoense’s players celebrate avoiding relegation from the Brazilian first division
Nivaldo Constante, a goalkeeper who was not on the plane and retired after the crash, said: ‘We were determined to find a way of moving forward. There was a lot of pain, a lot of suffering, but we never thought of abandoning football.’
A last-minute change of plan saved Constante and despite being rocked by shock and the grief of the losing his teammates, he decided to leap into action.
He said: ‘We spent 20 days from eight in the morning to 10 at night running after agents and players until we finally managed to get together 22 players.
‘It was very complicated but we managed to build a new team.’