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A subject carrier level pinch 128 group connected board, mostly soldiers, collapsed soon aft taking disconnected Monday successful Puerto Leguizamo, Colombia, sidesplitting astatine slightest 66 group and leaving dozens injured, nan caput of Colombia’s equipped forces said.
General Hugo Alejandro López Barreto said that 4 subject unit were still missing.
"Sadly, arsenic a consequence of this tragic accident, 66 of our subject elements died," he said.
"At nan moment, we person nary information, aliases indications, that it was an onslaught by an forbidden equipped group," Barreto added.
LAGUARDIA PLANE CRASH VIDEO SHOWS JET COLLIDE WITH FIRE TRUCK AFTER FRANTIC AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL WARNING
A Colombian subject carrier level collapsed adjacent Puerto Leguizamo, Colombia, soon aft takeoff March 23, 2026, sidesplitting astatine slightest 66 group and leaving dozens injured. (MiPutumayo via AP)
In a video posted connected societal media, Deputy Mayor Carlos Claros said that nan bodies of nan victims were taken to nan mini town's morgue, and that nan only 2 clinics successful municipality treated nan injured earlier they were flown to larger cities. Puerto Leguizamo is located successful Putumayo, an Amazonian province that borders Ecuador and Peru.
"I want to convey nan group of Puerto Leguizamo who came retired to thief nan victims of this accident," Claros told Colombian tv position RCN.
Defense Minister Pedro Sánchez said connected X that nan level that collapsed Monday was transporting troops to different metropolis successful Putumayo.
Images shared online by Colombian media outlets showed a achromatic unreality of fume rising from a section wherever nan level collapsed and a motortruck pinch soldiers rushing to nan site.
The airplane had 128 group connected board, including 115 were from nan Army, 11 unit members and 2 from nan National Police. Baretto said 57 group were evacuated.
FEDS INVESTIGATE ALARMING NEAR MISS BETWEEN ALASKA AIRLINES JET, FEDEX PLANE AT BUSY NEWARK AIRPORT
Emergency crews and section residents rushed to thief survivors aft a deadly subject level clang successful confederate Colombia March 23, 2026. (Colombia's Armed Forces property agency via AP)
Media outlets shared videos of soldiers being rushed from nan tract connected motorcycles driven by section residents, while different group of residents tried to put retired nan occurrence that nan level clang had created successful a section surrounded by dense foliage.
Carlos Fernando Silva, nan commandant of Colombia’s aerial force, said specifications of nan clang were not yet known, "except that nan level had a problem and went down astir 2 kilometers from nan airport."
The aerial unit commandant added that 2 planes, pinch 74 beds, were sent to nan area to alert nan injured backmost to hospitals successful nan capital, Bogota, and elsewhere.
Petro seized connected nan mishap to beforehand what he called his longtime run to modernize planes and different instrumentality utilized by his country’s military, saying those efforts person been blocked by "bureaucratic difficulties" and suggesting that immoderate officials should beryllium held accountable.
"If civilian aliases subject administrative officials are not up to nan challenge, they must beryllium removed," Petro said.
COLOMBIA FACES SURGE OF REFUGEES FLEEING CRISIS IN VENEZUELA
Officials opportunity a C-130 craft carrying mostly soldiers went down adjacent Puerto Leguizamo March 23, 2026, pinch nary signs of an onslaught by equipped groups. (Colombia's Armed Forces property agency via AP)
Critics of nan president pointed retired that subject craft person been fixed little formation hours nether nan Petro management owed to fund cuts, which leads to little knowledgeable crews.
Erich Saumeth, a Colombian aviation master and subject analyst, said that nan Hercules C-130 that collapsed Monday had been donated by nan United States to Colombia successful 2020. Three years later, it went done a elaborate revision known arsenic an overhaul, successful which its engines were inspected and cardinal components were replaced.
"I don't deliberation this level collapsed because of a deficiency of bully parts," Saumeth said. He said that investigations will person to determine why nan engines of nan Hercules, which has 4 propellers, grounded truthful quickly aft return off.
In a connection connected X Monday, Defense Minister Sánchez said that truthful acold location were nary signs indicating that nan level was attacked by rebel groups that run adjacent Puerto Leguizamo.
Sánchez wrote that nan mishap was "profoundly achy for nan country," adding that: "We dream that our prayers tin thief to relieve immoderate of nan pain."
