Complete failure, no fuel - crash pilot's plea to air traffic controllers on leaked audio

The pilot of the doomed chartered plane carrying a Brazilian football team told air traffic controllers he had run out of fuel and pleaded desperately for permission to land before crashing into the Andes, a leaked recording of the flight's final minutes has revealed.

In the sometimes chaotic exchange with the air traffic tower, the pilot of the British Aerospace 146 jet requests permission to land because of "fuel problems" without making a formal distress call.