[Allen:] Amid the tears and the rain, fans of Brazil's Chapecoense football club gathered Saturday to honor their team. 19 players and 19 staff were among the 71 people killed in a plane crash in Colombia Monday. The team was its way to a major tournament. "WORLD SPORTS'" Don Riddell has more from Chapeco, Brazil.
[Don Riddell, Cnn Sports Correspondent:] They left as heroes, they returned in coffins. The Guard of Honor for the Chapecoense football players. But the last few yards were the hardest. Reflecting the emotion of the day, dozens and dozens of caskets returned in a torrential downpour, as the visceral sight of so many bodies finally made the nightmare real. This is a small-town club which had punched well above its weight, capturing the hearts of a nation. The supporters had an intimate relationship with the team, sticking by them through the good times and the bad, but nobody could have ever imagined it would end like this. There isn't anybody in Chapeco who hasn't been touched by the tragedy, but it's been hardest for the families. Their grief was uncontrollable. But many found solace with the supporters, connecting with them possibly for the last time at this stadium. For Osmar Machado, the grief is crippling. He's told us that he wanted to commit suicide after learning of his son's death. Defender Filipe died on his father's birthday. The widow of the beloved goal keeper Danilo emotionally took his picture and placed it in the goalmouth where he stood for every game. The club must now draw on the strength of its supporters to rebuild the team. And their rich history will no doubt live on in the future. Part of that tradition was evident today. The awful weather conditions couldn't have been more appropriate. Everyone knows that Chapecoense played their best football in the rain. Don Riddell, CNN, Chapeco, Brazil.
[Allen:] Fighting continues between government troops and rebel forces in Aleppo, Syria, backed by airstrikes and artillery, regime forces continue to advance in rebel-held districts. Reports say they have now regained over half the area once controlled by rebels in eastern Aleppo. Civilians fleeing the battle are often caught in the middle, facing dangers from both sides. Senior international correspondent Fred Pleitgen filed this report from a government-controlled village south of Aleppo.
[Frederik Pleitgen, Cnn Senior International Correspondent:] As the Syrian government continues to push its offensive in and around the Aleppo area, we've been hearing about the tens of thousands of people who have already been displaced. And many people wonder, where are these people going? Well, some of them are going right here. We're inside a former cotton factory that's disused and is now being used as a place for many of these displaced people to go. Now a lot of these folks here describe harrowing experiences over the past couple of days as they were trapped inside the eastern districts of Aleppo that of course are under siege by the Syrian military and many of them say that in the past couple of days they haven't had very much in the way of food, of water, of course many of them very traumatized and very weak as well.
[Unidentified Child:] We were afraid that we would starve to death. We were also scared because heavy bombs were falling.
[Unidentified Male:] I wanted to leave with my kids 15 days ago, but the rebels shot at me and said, hey, you bastard, do you want to join the regime?
[Pleitgen:] Now if you look here you can see how some of these people have been living since they were able to get out of the eastern districts of Aleppo. You can see some of the mattresses there. We always have to stress that over the past couple of days, of course it's December right now, the weather here has been very, very bad. And so that's something of course that has additionally made life very difficult for some of the folks here. And if we look around, we can see just how many children are among those who also have been brought here to this shelter for displaced people. Again, many of them in very bad condition. Many of them, of course, very traumatized. And many of them also weak. One of the things that they are getting here is a warm meal for the very first time in a long time. You can see here some of the groups here are trying to hand out some bread, also some salad as well, just to make sure that these people are able to subsist over the next couple of days as of course they wait and they hope that maybe they'll be able to return back to their houses as a force. At this point in time, that government offensive is still very much going on. We have also been hearing a lot of fighting in and around the Aleppo area. Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Jibreen, Syria.
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