Colombians repatriated from quake-hit Chile

Colombia on Thursday repatriated 56 of its citizens who have been stranded in Chile since the country’s devastating earthquake on February 27.

The Colombian air force collected the stranded civilians in a Hercules C-130 airplane and dropped off a load of humanitarian aid for the survivors of the quake, which measured 8.8 on the Richter scale.

The Colombians were unable to return home without government assistance, due to restrictions on commercial flights out of Chile’s capital city of Santiago.

The earthquake has so far left almost a thousand people dead and has devastated Chile’s transportation infrastructure.

The Colombian government has promised $100,000 in aid to emergency programs in southern Chile.