Nearly 66 people were killed, mostly soldiers, and dozens more were injured when a Colombian military plane carrying 128 passengers crashed shortly after take-off in the remote Amazonian province of Putumayo. The military plane took off on Monday in Puerto Leguizamo, Colombia.
General Hugo Alejandro Lopez Barreto said that four military personnel were still missing.
“Sadly, as a consequence of this tragic accident, 66 of our military elements died. At the moment, we have no information or indications that it was an attack by an illegal armed group,” he said.
A video posted on social media shows Deputy Mayor Carlos Claros saying that the bodies of the victims were taken to the small town's morgue, and that the only two clinics in town treated the injured before they were flown to larger cities.
Defence Minister Pedro Sanchez said on X that the plane that crashed on Monday was transporting troops to another city in Putumayo.
Images shared online by Colombian media outlets showed a black cloud of smoke rising from a field where the plane crashed and a truck with soldiers rushing to the site.
The airplane had 128 people on board, including 115 from the Army, 11 crew members, and 2 from the National Police. Baretto said 57 people were evacuated.
Media outlets shared videos of soldiers being rushed from the site on motorcycles driven by local residents, while another group of residents tried to put out the fire that the plane crash had created in a field surrounded by dense foliage.
Erich Saumeth, a Colombian aviation expert and military analyst, said that the Hercules C-130 that crashed Monday had been donated by the United States to Colombia in 2020. Three years later, it went through a detailed revision known as an overhaul, in which its engines were inspected and key components were replaced.
“I don't think this plane crashed because of a lack of good parts,” Saumeth said. He said that investigations will have to determine why the engines of the Hercules, which has four propellers, failed so quickly after take off.
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