LA PAZ, BOLIVIA (Reuters) - Bolivian investigators swooped on the offices of the Directorate General of Civil Aeronautics on Thursday (Dec 8) as inquiries continue into the plane crash which wiped out almost all of the Brazilian Chapecoense soccer team.

The son of one of the partners of the LaMia airline which operated the plane is the latest to be arrested in connection with the accident.

Mr Gustavo Vargas Villegas is the director of the National Aeronautical Registry and signed off on the plane which crashed.

A total of 71 people died when the plane came down after it apparently ran out of fuel.

The airline's license has since been suspended.

Officials say their initial inquiry is to look into the possibility of criminal failure to follow safety procedures.

Brazilians at the Maracana stadium in Rio de Janeiro on Saturday linked arms in tribute to the soccer players who died.

The Chapecoense team was heading to Colombia for the final of the Copa Sudamericana, the biggest game in the club's history.