At least 66 members of the security forces were killed after an Air Force aircraft with 127 people on board crashed in southern Colombia. Four people are still missing, according to the armed forces.
According to Air Force General Carlos Fernando Silva, the Hercules C130 airplane crashed shortly after taking off from an air strip in Puerto Leguizamo, a municipality on the border with Peru, around 9:50AM on Monday.
In a post on social media platform X, Silva said that the C130 has 127 people on board, 11 Air Force staff , 114 soldiers of the National Army and two police.
Security forces and locals spent much of the day on Monday trying to rescue people from the aircraft and the surrounding crash site.
Military aircraft were sent to the Peruvian border region to transported to hospital throughout Colombia.
By the end of the day, only a minority of the fatal victims had been identified, Silva said at a press conference with Defense Minister Pedro Sanchez.
In a post on social media platform X, President Gustavo Petro said he felt “a lot of pain for the lost sons” and criticized the fact that the airplane was 43-year-old scrap purchased by the previous government from the US military.
Governments that puff out their chests with nothing but feathers and sequins. They shoot bullets with their words but buy nothing but corrupt junk for the war. Why didn’t they buy a new plane, just like they buy their cars and apartments?
President Gustavo Petro
Petro additionally criticized Congress for failing to approve the government’s financing for the past two years, suggesting that this was impeding the necessary spending on defense matters.
The president and the armed forces praised locals from Puerto Leguisamo for their support in the rescue efforts.
