Football team avoid plane tragedy

Swedish football team Dalkurd FF narrowly avoided boarding the Germanwings' A320 plane that crashed in the French Alps killing all 150 people passengers and crew on Tuesday.

Returning from a training camp in Barcelona, the team had selected four possible routes home, one of which was on Germanwings flight 4U 9525. Due to a long stopover in Düsseldorf, the players and staff instead flew groups home on three separate flights, with no team members on board the ill-fated 4U9525.

"We really should have flown with that plane," Dalkurd FF Sporting Director Adil Kizil told Swedish newspaper Sportbladet, but delays caused the team to decide differently.

The Dalkurd FF players were said to be very shaken, having come so close to similar tragedies such as the 'Munich Air Disaster' and the Zambian national team's crash. "All the people there were at the same check-in desk as us at the same time. You could say we had a little luck today. What has happened is very, very tragic," said Kizil.

apc/jh (Reuters)