Ran out of fuel. Yep. The pilot circled for a bit in an attempt to locate a landing area. Someone at the airport should be going to jail on negligent homicide charges.
Why?
Did "someone at the airport" MOVE the airport and then not tell the pilot?
Actually, ATC told him to circle because another airliner had requested an emergency landing before this one made the request and was given priority. (See: 'There's no fuel! We're going down! There's no radar!' Last words of Colombia crash pilot as he pleaded with air traffic controller for help are revealed by fellow airman)
Flight data shows how the jet circled around a number of times before the disaster after declaring an electrical failure.
The 1,900 mile flight path used by the doomed aircraft from Santa Cruz in Bolivia to Medellin was at edge of the jet's capacity, the Mirror reports.
The plane would ordinarily have needed to stop in Colombia's capital Bogota if it had run low on fuel. But the landing did not take place meaning the jet would have been very low on fuel as it approached Medellin.
It has been reported that the pilot was told that another aircraft had asked for landing priority because of its own on board problems.
The second aircraft was given permission to land while the jet carrying the Brazilian footballers was told to circle at 21,000ft, putting it third or fourth in line to land, according to local media.
If it's true that the cockpit crew decided to take a chance to fly right to the edge of the aircraft's fuel range then they're the only one to blame for the crash and loss of life.