The accident involving a Hercules C-130 plane from the Colombian Aerospace Force (FAC), which occurred on Monday (23) in Puerto Leguízamo, a town in the Amazon department of Putumayo (south of the country), left 66 dead, four missing and 57 injured, according to the most recent bulletin from Colombia’s military forces.
Of the dead, 58 were members of the National Army, six were members of the FAC crew and two were police officers, while four people have not yet been located, the statement added.
The accident occurred on Monday morning, when the aircraft crashed and caught fire shortly after taking off from Puerto Leguízamo airport, in a difficult-to-access jungle area in the department of Putumayo, for reasons that are still unknown.
“The investigation will be rigorous, transparent and as quickly as possible. The country will know the truth”, said Defense Minister Pedro Sánchez Suárez, who is a retired FAC general.
According to the newspaper El Tiempo, Sánchez stated that the aircraft was technically capable of flying, that the crew was properly trained and that, according to the first information, “there is no evidence of an attack by illegal agents”.
Regarding the explosions in the area of the accident recorded in videos circulating on social media, the minister pointed out that, “as a result of the fire on the aircraft, some of the ammunition carried by the troops detonated, which corresponds to what can be heard in some videos circulating on social media”.
The commander of the military forces, General Hugo Alejandro López, said that there were 128 people on board the aircraft.
According to the FAC, 57 soldiers were rescued and evacuated, of which eight were transferred to the city of Florencia, capital of the department of Caquetá, and 49 to Bogotá.
Of the injured taken to the Colombian capital, 19 are receiving treatment at the Military Hospital and another 30 “who are not more serious” are at the Military Health Battalion, according to General López.
The FAC also reported that four soldiers remain missing and that the bodies of the victims are in the process of being identified.
