this is "nightline." >> tonight, miracle survivors. a jetliner carrying a soccer team to a championship series tragically slams into a mountainous area. the fuselage destroyed. 71 dead, but six people somehow survived. what we know tonight about the safest part of the could save your life. plus the husband speaks out. new details about the horrific trauma endured by this california mom reportedly abducted. her captors potentially using psychological torture techniques and even branding her with a message. and taylor tv. ? our wildest dreams coming true. taylor swift taking her brand to television. announcing the creation of her

? wildest dreams ? >> first here tonight the "nightline 5." >> when i act, if i do this -- ha ha ha! or if i do this -- ha ha ha! i'm totally in control. i don't have pba. but if you're someone with pseudo bulbar affect, it costs frequent outbursts of uncontrollable crying or in people with brain injuries or certain neurologic conditions. pba is treatable. ask your doctor or go to

we start with an extraordinary story of survival.

first-ever playoff game in their history when their plane crashed in the mountains of colombia. 71 people died. but six somehow made it. their bodies found away from the wreckage. what can we learn from them? here's abc's david kerley. >> reporter: looking at the images of this plane crash today, the mangled seats just part of the fuselage intact, it's hard to imagine anyone could survive. 71 died six did survive. >> in this particular instance, with all the wreckage that we've seen in the pictures, i would say if it's not miraculous, it's fairly close. >> reporter: last night search and rescue teams frantically working to pull them from the debris. the jet they were on was flying to the colombian city of medellin, going down in the mountains around the airport monday night. among those on board the regional braz zan soccer team

it was to be a ju yus trip for the team, headed to a big tournament for the first time. alan ruschel with the beard one of the two players who survived. next to him padilla, a goalkeeper, found alive. he was able to call his family, but then died from his injuries. another tragic story, the death of this 22-year-old player. his family releasing video last week when he learned he would soon be a father. fans of the loss. and tonight new details. colombian authorities say the tail hit the top of the mountain and the rest of the plane slid down the other side. a team of investigators looking to the black boxes that they recovered to determine what went wrong. >> the flight data recorder will tell us what was and what was not operating in the cockpit. what did the pilots have to work with? >> reporter: the plane was a british aerospace 146 owned by a

get into difficult airports which medellin is. abc's steve ganyard has flown into that airport before. >> even in the daytime it's a very sporty place. not only do you have rugged terrain but oftentimes weather. it's a very high altitude about 7,500 feet. >> reporter: the soccer team's journey began monday evening. the team posting this video to their facebook page showing them getting readily for the first leg of their journey, from brazil to bolivia. the team's manager describing the trip as important so far. one of the journalists on board uploads this the photo of them once they board that first leg. soccer players felipe machado filming himself joking with fellow passengers and teammates. once in bolivia, the second leg takes off, headed to colombia's medellin international airport. but at 9:54 p.m. local time as the plane is nearing the end of its five-hour flight, authorities say the crew reports

radar shows the jet circling near medellin several times. the plane descends 5,000 feet within two minutes. >> the fact that they circled and circled after declaring an emergency and then impact the ground the way they did indicates they might have been completely without instrumentation and were searching for the runway. >> reporter: at about 15,000 feet the plane disappears from radar. emergency crews descend upon the scene. those six people pulled alive from the wreckage and taken to local hospitals. with sunrise comes a clearer look at the wreckage and the plane torn to pieces. the 71 bodies now recovered. those six survivors beat the odds given how many participatings die in crashes like this. when air france flight 447 went down in the atlantic ocean in june 2009, all 228 aboard were killed. the plane suffering an aerodynamic stall. and last may, egyptian flight

mediterranean sea, killing 66 passengers. that investigation still ongoing. tonight, investigators trying to determine where in the plane those survivors were sitting. >> there is no safest seat. because every time we have an accident and they're so few and far between, but every time one does occur that's survivable, it's always different. each one is unique. that's the same thing about the seats. we just have no way of predicting. >> reporter: bracing for impact is key in surviving a plane crash. in an effort to examine how a tragic incident such as a plane crash unfolds, the discovery channel series "curiosity plane crash" rigged up this 727 jet with cameras, sensors and test dummies before crashing it into the mexican desert. >> the brace position is designed to reduce your chances of being knocked unconscious during a heavy impact. and you must be conscious obviously to evacuate. >> in an accident that is otherwise survivable, in which the cabin does not break apart,

extremely important for passengers to do several things. first of all, they need to know when they get on the plane where the nearest exit is. secondly, they need to listen and follow immediately the orders of the flight attendants who will be yelling at them to do certain things. thirdly, no matter how much you need that laptop, leave it there, don't try to take it out with you. >> reporter: for plane crash survivors the impact can be devastating. last year blink 182 drummer travis barker opened up to chris connelly. >> about the t he and his friend adam goldstein survived in 2008. four others died that september night. >> we go to take off and you just hear like really -- sounds like someone's shooting at the plane. then the plane spirals out of control and starts skidding on the runway. smoke starts coming through the entire plane. then we take off. and i'm screaming at this point. for me at this point it's like my biggest fear in the world is

>> reporter: the crash left him with severe burns, covering 65% of his body. barker undergoing 27 surgeries. the pain so extreme the famous drummer considered suicide at one point. >> i would call friends of mine and go, i'll deposit $1 million into whoever's bank account, i'm done. >> reporter: according to an ntsb report, the cause of that plane crash was a combination of severely underinflated tires, a problem in the aircraft's thrust reverser system, and the pit' decision to abort takeoff too late. lear jet manufactured that aircraft and told abc news, safety is its top priority, adding this that their aircraft meet the stringent quality and safety stars of u.s., canadian, and european authorities. while still infrequent, private plane crashes are far more likely than those on commercial aircraft. back in brazil tonight, mourning. this photo capturing the reactions of two players who did not travel with the team b

and fans gathering at the stadium that is home to the brazilian team to pay tribute to those who died in the crash. some of the world's biggest teams from real madrid to barcelona held a minute's silence at the top of their practice sessions today. the colombian soccer team that the brazilian team was slated to play said today that it wants the brazilians to be crowned the champions of the cup. for "nightline" i'm david kerley in washington, d.c. in the case of sherri papini, the mom who went missing for three weeks. her husband says the abductors cut off her hair, beat her, even branded her. what he's also saying about rumors it could all be a hoax. ? i got a blank space baby ? ? and i'll write your name. >> taylor swift filling in a blank space in your tv lineup announcing the launch of her own streaming channel.

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ing chirping motor hums croaking dripping casting revving zipping whale call fog horn elk call owl hoot wolf howl bell ringing whistling there are some with czar new details emerging in the case of sherri papini, the mom who vanished for three weeks only to be found tied up on the side of a country road. her husband is now speaking out about the appalling condition in which his wife was found and about rumors the whole thing may have been a hoax. here's abc's kayna whitworth. >> reporter: today allege kidnapping victim sherri papi

describing a rush of conflicting emotions after the mother of two was miraculously found alive after 22 days. in a statement to abc news keith says the officers warned me to brace myself. nothing could have prepared me for what i was about to see upon my arrival at the hospital. her face covered in bruises ranging from yellow to black because of repeated beatings. the bridge of her nose broken. he says his wife weighed just 87 pounds. he says her appearance changed radically during the ordeal. her signature long blond hair had been chopped off. her now emaciated body covered in severe burns. she has been branded. he describes her being thrown from a vehicle with a chain around her waist attached to her wrists and a bag over her head after being held for more than three weeks. the brand on papini's body a possible lead. keith said it was already beginning to heal. >> i'm not able to go into the

but it could be a number of different messages. >> you know what the brandings were? >> yes. >> did they say something? >> it is not a symbol, but it was a message. >> to who? >> could be a message to her, it could be a message to others. >> if you go deeper with this, as to why they would brand a person, i think it's probably twofold. one, it's a control thing and it's also they're trying to move her, in my view, further away from her identity. >> reporter: in his statement keith expressing gratitude to everyone who helped his family through this torturous journey and contempt to those suggesting her disappearance may have been some sort of hoax. >> when you're looking at a profile of someone that would kidnap a female and cut off her hair, what does that person look like to you? >> obviously a very sick person who may have wanted to not only

physical appearance, but also as part of that psychological warfare, if you will, to humiliate them. >> reporter: earlier today, authorities met with papini for the third time since she's been found, trying to fug you're out who was responsible and why she was suddenly released. >> the only people that know that would be the abductors. >> do you believe you're looking for two hispanic women and possibly others? >> well, right now still the two hispanic female with a hand 51. >> reporter: shasta county sheriff's office is focused on locating two women papini said were driving a dark-colored suv. >> this has the flavor of someone who has been taken for a particular purpose. not to ransom away or to maybe even sell to somebody else. that's what makes this kidnapping extremely unusual.

confirmed kidnapping. >> it's been six days since papini was found bound on the side of a california highway. she's described as her family as super mom. she vanished november 2nd after going out for a run. her husband keith immediately on edge, arriving home from work to an empty house. he began a desperate search using the find my iphone app. he located sherri's cell phone on the side of the road a mile from their home with strands of her hair tangled in her >> i went to pick it up. at this point everything that i was going through my head, i already knew something was wrong, so i immediately called 911. >> reporter: keith passing a polygraph test early. ruling him out as a suspect. just four days after she disappeared, keith shared his shock and confusion over why anyone would target his wife. >> everybody loved sherri. there's no one that doesn't like sherri. i don't have the words, but you know, some sick type of thing.

pleas for sherri's safe return. >> bring her home. just bring her home. >> reporter: then in dramatic fashion, at 4:30 in the morning, she appeared. it was dark. just like this. sherri papini told authorities her captors just dropped her off, right there behind me, 150 miles from her home on thanksgiving day. authorities say she was bound with restraints but was able to flag down a passing driver. other drivers were calling 911. >> i saw a woman come o nowhere. frantically waving what looked like a shirt up and down. >> reporter: keith telling abc news that shirt was actually the bag that had been placed over her head. >> i mean, she definitely looked frightened. and like -- yeah she had like a wide-eyed panic kind of look. >> reporter: alison sutton was driving down this dark yolo county road when she says she passed papini and called 911. >> she pretty much just came out

it startled me but i figured, you know, if somebody was desperate enough for help, that they were willing to be so close to traffic that they might get hit, that they really needed help. >> reporter: at the time, sutton didn't know who the woman was. >> i do feel like i got to be a witness to a small miracle. >> reporter: pettini was treated and released from an area hospital where she was reunited with her husband keith. together they made at least one phone call to the mayor of her hometown with an emotional thank you for the community's support. >> overjoyed. just that she was able to talk and give thanks. and sherri of course was tearful on the phone. even talking about it now, i'm getting tearful. i mean, there isn't anything better. >> sherri has got a long road ahead of her from a psychological standpoint, as any of us would that would have experienced what it appears she has gone through in the last three weeks. >> reporter: with mystery still

responsible, this northern california community is on edge should the community be worried? >> the community should be concerned. i always ask them to exercise caution and quarterness. >> reporter: for "nightline," i'm kayna whitworth in redding, california. ? next, taylor swift gets her own 24-hour tv channel. the thing is she never goes out of style.

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bet you want to ? >> the multi platinum stop targeting her own tv channel, striking a deal with at&t to launch taylor swift now. >> are you ready? >> swifties access never before seen performance and exclusive content through u-verse, directv and directv now set to launch wednesday. fans tweeting their excitement, screaming, dying, crying, i can't contain my emotions. they're also saying goodpy to their social lives. last month would headline their super saturday night event on the eve of super bowl sunday in houston. swift tweeted a picture of a customized jersey donning her lucky 13. taylor swift is months the only star teaming up with the company. reese witherspoon will be providing exclusive content to the service through they are latest multi media brand hello sunshine. no word as to how swiftly the content will hit the screen.

? wildest dreams ? >> wildest dreams do come true. ? you'll remember me ? >> thank you for watching abc news tonight. as always we're online 24/7 at abcnews.com and on our "nightline" facebook page. thanks again for watching and good night. now on celebrity page tv. two struggling stars getting the help they need. >> i had everything. and i was absolutely broken inside. >> the latest details on kanye west's hospitalization and selena gomez's battle with depression. the most star-studded mannequin challenge ever. we'll tell you who is involved. who is behind the epic video.

better than any sellout crowd. plus, channing tatum becomes the king. >> do you work here? >> no. >> why doesn't anyone want to ride the elevator with him? >> come in. ?? ?? big stars, big hollywood. celebrity page tv starts now. welcome to celebrity page. i'm sonja isabelle. covering your entertainment news and a look at specials. first a look at the trending headlines in the hollywood wrap. new details on kanye west hospitalization. >> my career. my life. >> the rapper receiving treatment for exhaustion and sleep deprivation after a bizarre rant during a concert in california. celebrity page now learning the 39-year-old's troubles may go much further.