Manchester: Manchester United on Tuesday marked 60 years since the Munich air crash ripped the heart out of the “Busby Babes” team with a service at Old Trafford attended by survivors Bobby Charlton and Harry Gregg.

The stadium fell silent as the clock ticked to 1504 GMT, marking the time of the crash on an icy runway in Germany six decades ago.

There were also ceremonies in Munich and Belgrade to mark the anniversary of the tragedy, which happened when the plane carrying Matt Busby’s youthful team back via Munich from Belgrade on February 6, 1958 crashed on its third take-off attempt.

United’s players were celebrating reaching the European Cup semi-finals but the crash destroyed one of the finest teams in the club’s history, killing eight players and three members of the club’s staff.

Twenty-three people died in total, including eight journalists, and there were 21 survivors.

Charlton and Gregg, the only survivors from the group of players who lived through the crash, were both at the ceremony attended by more than 4,500 supporters held amid snow flurries in the northwest of England, along with former United manager Alex Ferguson.

Current United boss Jose Mourinho and club captain Michael Carrick laid wreaths at the service, which was also attended by FIFA president Gianni Infantino and Liverpool great Kenny Dalglish.

Former goalkeeper Gregg, who spent time at the United training ground earlier on Tuesday, sang along with the hymn “Abide With Me” as the ceremony came to a close.

Gregg, who told the BBC Sport website that Tuesday’s service would be his final time at Old Trafford, said he did not believe the disaster had defined him or the club.

Agence France-Presse