Dozens have died in a plane crash in Colombia after a flight containing a top Brazilian football team went down as it approached the city of Medellin on Tuesday.

Police said 76 people were dead, but five survived the crash.

"Six people were rescued alive, but unfortunately one died. The rest of the occupants unfortunately died. The tragic toll is 76 victims," Jose Gerardo Acevedo, regional police commander, told journalists.

Brazil's Chapecoense soccer team players Alan Luciano Ruschel, Marcos Danilo Padilha and Jacson Ragnar Follmann were listed as survivors in a statement from the disaster management agency.

Passengers Rafael Correa Gobbato and Ximena Suarez also survived.

All five were being treated at hospitals near the crash site. 

The official Facebook page of the Chapecoense team posted a statement saying: "May God be with our athletes, leaders, journalists and other guests travelling with our delegation." The club said that it would not be making any official comments until it had more information from Colombian authorities.

The team was due to play against Medellin team Athletico Nacional in the first leg of Wednesday's Sudamericana final, South America's equivalent of the Europa League.

It was the first time the small club from Chapeco had reached the final of a major South American club competition but they were underdogs against a club going for a rare double after winning the Copa Libertadores in July.

Chapecoense were the 21st biggest club in Brazil in terms of revenue, bringing in 46 million reais ($13.5 million) in 2015, according to an annual rich list compiled by Brazilian bank Itau BBA.

The South American Football Confederation has suspended all games following the incident.

Flight tracking service Flightradar24 said on Twitter the last tracking signal from flight 2933 had been received when it was at 15,500 feet, about 30 km from its destination, which sits at an altitude of 7,000 feet.

The Avro RJ85 was produced by a company that is now part of UK's BAE Systems

The charter flight was carrying 72 passengers and nine crew, when it crashed around 10:15 p.m. on Monday. Heavy rain first hampered and then halted rescue operations. Officials told local media that bodies would be removed once the sun rose.

Additional reporting by Reuters.