Scores of soldiers are feared dead after a military transport aircraft crashed during takeoff in southern Colombia.
Defence Minister Pedro Sánchez said the accident occurred as a Lockheed Martin C-130 Hercules was departing from Puerto Leguízamo, a remote town in Colombia’s Amazon region near the border with Peru. The aircraft was transporting members of the armed forces at the time of the crash.
According to the Chief of the Colombian Air Force, Carlos Fernando Silva, the plane was carrying 11 air force personnel and 114 soldiers. He confirmed that 48 injured individuals had been rescued but did not provide an official number of survivors or fatalities.
President Gustavo Petro described the incident as a “horrific accident that should never have happened.”
In a statement, Petro said he had long sought to modernise the country’s military fleet but had faced delays due to bureaucratic obstacles. He added that officials unable to meet the challenge of maintaining military safety should be replaced.
The tragedy has drawn reactions from leading candidates in Colombia’s upcoming presidential election, scheduled for late May, who expressed condolences and called for a thorough investigation into the cause of the crash.
Images circulating on local media platforms show thick black smoke rising from the crash site in an open field, while soldiers and civilians rushed to contain the fire and assist rescue efforts.
Minister Sánchez said emergency teams were immediately deployed to the scene, noting that the cause of the crash remains unknown.
“This event is profoundly painful for the country,” he said, expressing hope that prayers would help comfort grieving families.
The aircraft involved was manufactured by Lockheed Martin, which had not issued an immediate response at the time of reporting.
The crash comes just weeks after another C-130 aircraft belonging to the Bolivian Air Force went down in El Alto, killing more than 20 people and injuring dozens.
