A military transport plane carrying 128 people, most of them soldiers, crashed shortly after take-off on Monday in Puerto Leguizamo, Colombia, killing at least 66 people and wounding dozens, the commander of the Colombian Armed Forces announced.
General Hugo Alejandro Lopez Barreto said that four soldiers were still missing.
He added: “Unfortunately, as a result of this tragic incident, 66 of our military personnel died.”
Barreto added: “At the present time, we have no information or indications that this was an attack by an illegal armed group.”
In a video posted on social media, Deputy Mayor Carlos Claros said that the bodies of the victims were taken to the small town’s morgue, and that the only two clinics in the town treated the wounded before they were flown to major cities. Puerto Leguizamo is located in Putumayo, an Amazonian province that borders Ecuador and Peru.
“I want to thank the residents of Puerto Leguizamo who came to help the victims of this accident,” Claros told Colombian television station RCN.
Defense Minister Pedro Sanchez said on X that the plane that crashed on Monday was transporting troops to another city in Putumayo.
Pictures published by Colombian media on the Internet showed a black cloud of smoke rising from the field where the plane crashed, and a truck carrying soldiers rushing to the site.
There were 128 people on board, including 115 army personnel, 11 crew members and 2 national police. Barreto said 57 people had been evacuated.
The media published videos showing soldiers being transported from the site on motorcycles driven by local residents, while another group of residents tried to put out the fire caused by the plane crash in a field surrounded by dense foliage.
Carlos Fernando Silva, commander of the Colombian Air Force, said that the details of the accident were not yet known, “except that the plane had a problem and crashed about two kilometers from the airport.”
The Air Force Commander added that two planes carrying 74 beds were sent to the region to return the injured to hospitals in the capital, Bogota, and other places.
Petro used the incident to promote what he called his long campaign to modernize aircraft and other equipment used by his country’s army, saying these efforts had been hampered by “bureaucratic difficulties” and suggesting that some officials be held accountable.
“If civilian or military administrators are not up to the challenge, they should be removed,” Petro said.
The president’s critics have pointed out that military aircraft were given fewer flying hours under the Petro administration due to budget cuts, resulting in less experienced crews.
The Hercules C-130 that crashed Monday was donated to Colombia by the United States in 2020, said Eric Saumet, a Colombian aviation expert and military analyst. Three years later, it underwent a detailed review known as an overhaul, in which its engines were checked and major components were replaced.
“I don’t think this plane crashed due to lack of good parts,” Smith said. He said that investigations must determine why the engines of the Hercules plane, which has four propellers, failed so quickly after take-off.
In a message on Monday
Sanchez wrote that the incident was “extremely painful for the country,” adding: “We hope that our prayers will help ease some of the pain.”