UPDATE: The bodies of 71 victims killed in a Colombian plane crash that nearly wiped out Brazilian football club Chapecoense have been repatriated, with mourners gathering in the rain for a massive memorial service.

More than 100,000 people attended the service at the team’s home town stadium in the southern Brazilian city of Chapeco. That is about half the city’s population.

Brazilian president Michel Temer presided over a ceremony at the airport, where he was due to posthumously decorate the victims and offer condolences to their families.

Trucks carry coffins to the memorial. Photo: AAP

But he had reportedly flagged that he would not attend the public service, amid fears that he might be booed, as he was at the opening ceremony of the 2016 Olympic Games, or draw protesters.

And yet even as coffins containing 64 Brazilians, five Bolivians, a Paraguayan and a Venezuelan were flown home – a stark reminder of the immediate despair caused by Monday’s tragedy – there were sprouting shoots of hope for the future.

Amid the suffering there was respectful optimism for the club and the crash survivors.

Fans pack the stadium for the emotion-charged service. Photo: AAP

One of the six survivors, Helio Hermito Zampier Neto, a 31-year-old defender, was in a stable condition after surgery on a lung, a knee, a wrist and his skull.

His father reported that he the family had “renewed hope and faith” that Neto would make a full recovery and could even play football again.

“My son is getting better and better. He has just undergone surgery on his leg and doctors say he will return to football,” he wrote on Facebook.

A single rose hangs from the goal net at the stadium. Photo: AAP

Doctors said 24-year-old goalkeeper Jakson Ragnar Follmann would not lose his left leg, after having his right one amputated.

Defender Alan Ruschel, 27, had spinal surgery and feared he would be confined to a wheelchair, but his movements were not affected.

Journalist Rafael Henzel was treated for multiple rib fractures and a collapsed lung and was listed as stable.

Coffins are transported to the memorial service. Photo: Getty

The other two survivors were crew members.

Colombian police released a video of the moment flight technician Erwin Tumiri was rescued alive, conscious and screaming for colleagues.

He was discharged from hospital and was on his way home.

Stewardess Ximena Suarez Otterburg, who was found hours after the crash near the wreckage, was reported to be in good condition in hospital.

Fans light candles at the mass memorial. Photo: Getty

“God can’t explain the pain I feel,” she wrote on Facebook.

Chapecoense vice-president Gelson Dalla Costa said the club felt it had the support of people around the globe and would rebuild from the disaster.

“We had very important values,” he told Omnisport.

Wet weather did not stop fans cramming into the stadium. Photo: AAP

“Chapecoense was at the top of its trajectory after 43 years of history and unfortunately we lost [that].

“But with tranquility and support from the whole world, we will rebuild Chapecoense.”

Several high-profile former players have offered to join Chapecoense.

Dalla Costa said top clubs from Brazil’s Serie A, Argentina, Portugal and Spain had also pledged their support.

Chapecoense defender Helio Neto is helped by paramedics after being rescued from the wreckage.

“In this moment of big pain, clubs are standing in solidarity to help us,” he said.

But talk of the future will come as no comfort to the family members, friends and fans dealing with the cold reality of today.

“The team did not die, the city died,” one of the club officials told the BBC.

The Chapecoense group before boarding their flight.

One of the most heart-breaking stories to emerge among the victims was that of striker Tiago da Rocha Vieira Alves, who learned only a week before the flight that he was going to be a father.

His cousin, Gilmara Marins, told CNN the family was in shock but considered the pregnancy “a small miracle”.

Marin’s said Tiaguinho’s mother was struggling to accept that her son would not be walking in the door.

“We are just awaiting the arrival of the body,” she said.

“That is all we can do now. Wait for him to come home.”

Tiaguinho’s coffin was among those on a caravan that made its way down the streets of the Colombian city of Medellin to the airport, where three Brazilian airforce planes brought the 64 bodies home.

Funeral home employees prepare the coffins for the flight home to Brazil.

Crowds cheered “Let’s Go Chape” and waved goodbye with white flags. Along the road to the airport, hundreds of people waved flowers, white balloons and Colombian flags.

“What we want now more than anything else is to go home, to take our friends and brothers home. The wait is the worst,” said Roberto di Marche, a cousin of Chapecoense’s late director Nilson Folle Junior.

As the last of the Brazilian planes departed, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos posted on Twitter that the victims would forever remain in his nation’s memory.

El #Chapecoense quedará en nuestra memoria por su perseverancia y tenacidad. Reitero mi más profunda solidaridad con familiares de víctimas

— Juan Manuel Santos (@JuanManSantos) December 3, 2016

“The #Chapecoense will remain in our memory for their perseverance and tenacity. I reiterate my deepest solidarity with relatives of the victims,” he wrote.

Authorities are still investigating what caused the charter flight to crash into the mountains outside Medellin, where Chapecoense was due to play the biggest match in its history — the away leg of the Copa Sudamericana final.

Roger Pinto Molina, the father-in-law of the plane’s pilot Miguel Quiroga, who also part owned the plane, apologised to the Brazilian people on Friday.

A view of the airplane crash near Medellin, Colombia.

“We want to say to millions of Brazilians, especially the families, sons, parents and brothers in Chapeco that we are very sorry,” Molina, a former Bolivian senator living in exile in Brazil, told GloboNews in an interview after reports emerged that the plane did not have the mandated additional fuel reserve.

Declining to comment on the cause of the crash, he added: “The word sorry does not resolve anything, but we want to ask for pardon.”

Colombia’s civil aviation safety chief, Freddy Bonilla, said regardless of the cause, the plane disregarded international rules on fuel reserves.

Prosecutors from Bolivia, Brazil and Colombia are due to meet in Santa Cruz on 7 December to discuss joint efforts to investigate the tragedy, sharing evidence and evaluating theories, Colombian prosecutors said.