Heartbroken fiancee of footballer killed in Colombian air crash disaster was just due to marry him next week
In exclusive interview, Amanda Machado breaks down and reveals she dreamt about his death before plane crash
A BEREAVED Brazilian bride-to-be has spoken of her crushing heartbreak at losing her fiancé in the Colombian air crash disaster, just hours before she attends today’s mass funeral ceremony.
Amanda Machado, 26, was due to marry Dener Assunção, 25, next Saturday, in a gorgeous fitted white wedding dress that she was due to finishing paying for on Tuesday – the day of the accident.
Now she will be dressed in black as her husband-to-be’s coffin is carried into a packed stadium of over 100,000 people and laid in a row with 50 other caskets.
In a heart-wrenching conversation with the the Sun, in which she sobbed and struggled to speak, Amanda spoke about how her life has been destroyed by Dener’s tragic death.
It comes as the talented left-back’s family revealed they are angry at the unfolding news the accident could be down to human error and could have been avoided.
But they said they are too distraught to even think about hating the man who is allegedly being blamed for the accident.
Amanda said: “We’re going to leave it in the hands of God for now. Right now, I’m living my worst nightmare.
"I just want to wake up and find out that this is not true.
"The awful thing is that I used to have these horrible dreams before, when he was alive where I felt I was losing Dener. I would wake up really angry with him for leaving me in my dreams and argue with him for making me suffer so much in my sleep.
“I remember feeling total despair and waking up and crying so much. Dener would then hug me and say: ‘I’m here my love, I’m not going anywhere.’"
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The mum-of-one said all she feels now is a constant pain like a knife has been stabbed through her heart.
She said: “I dreamt about losing Dener, now this nightmare has turned into my reality and I’ll never again see the beautiful scene of him playing with our son. And I’ll never have that one last hug to reassure me and that one last kiss to say goodbye.”
The couple who had been together for eight years, after being introduced by a mutual friend, have a two-year-old son together.
Amanda said: “Before (Dener) left, he sent me a message saying that he was missing our son, Bernardo, and that he loved us very much. I sent a reply but he never received it.”
Amanda explained she had travelled from the couple’s home in Chapeco to Porto Alegre, where her family lives to put the finishing touches to her wedding dress and complete the plans for their marriage at the Sitio Babylonia wedding hall at 8pm next Saturday.
She said: “I was staying in a hotel when I was woken up around 4.30am by a call from my mother-in-law who was wondering what was going on. I did not know anything.
“I turned the television on and then it was as if the ground had been pulled from under my feet. I wish I could say at the time I stayed strong, but it wouldn’t be true. I was a total. My life has been smashed to pieces and destroyed by what has happened.”
Last Tuesday Amanda flew to Colombia with her father, Jorge, to see the body of her departed fiancé.
Still unable to talk about the visit, she said she will not be able to cope at today’s funeral.
Her father said she has been inconsolable and constantly crying since the fatal crash that killed 71 and left just 6 survivors.
Amanda said: “My parents and Dener’s family will be there to support me but I just want my husband to do that.”
Both families have been torn apart by the tragedy.
The Sun spoke to Dener’s mum, Ana, 43, a housewife and his 19-year-old sister Danielle who works in Bagé, city centre where the family live, in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, south Brazil.
Her husband, Cleber, a usually strong and resilient man who works in construction, is a broken man.
She said: “Dener was the light of our lives. He was a wonderful and loyal son. A child that every mother would wish she had.
“On the day before he flew to Columbia he called to at 10am to saying ‘mum I’m going to be travelling. I love you so much’. Then later at 4pm he sent a WhatsApp message saying ‘Mommy love you’.”
That was the last time Ana heard from her son.
She said: “We were sleeping then about 4.30am I got up, a usual habit of mine, and caught sight of my cell phone. I saw a message from a girl requesting that I call her and if I had heard about the plane crash.
“I thought she was joking around. I rushed to turn on the TV and found it wasn’t a joke.”
Ana has been put on medication since the news and is being monitored by her doctor.
Dener’s sister said her brother had so much to live for and had been living his dream. He was hoping one day to play for the national side.
She said: “He was my idol. I looked up to him for everything. I spoke to him every day and I had to check out everything I planned to do with him first.
“He looked asfter me like a bigger brother should. We never fought when we were children and I loved him so much, my heart is destroyed.”
She added that her brother also had plans to open a football school in Bagé in the future.
Now his body will be returned to his home city for burial following today’s funeral ceremony in Chapeco.
LaMia aircraft carrying 77 passengers took off for Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia, bound for Medellin with the Chapecoense football delegation, journalists and flight crew crashe.
It crashed in the east of Colombia’s Antioquia department, on Tuesday killing 71.
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