Transport plane carrying 125 soldiers and crew crashes shortly after takeoff in southern Amazon region
Scores of Colombian soldiers are feared dead after a military transport plane crashed on takeoff in the south of the country.
The defence minister, Pedro Sánchez, said the accident happened as the Lockheed Martin Hercules C-130 plane was taking off from Puerto Leguízamo, deep in Colombia’s southern Amazon region on the border with Peru, as it transported troops from the armed forces.
Maj Gen Carlos Fernando Silva, the chief of the Colombian air force, said that the aircraft was carrying 11 air force members and 114 soldiers. He said that 48 injured people had been rescued but gave no figure for survivors or fatalities.
The Colombian president, Gustavo Petro, described the crash as a “horrific accident that should never have happened”.
