Soldier tells how he survived the plane crash in Colombia

The wife of one of the soldiers who survived the crash of the Hercules military plane in Colombia told details of her husband’s account of the moments of despair inside the aircraft that crashed this Monday (23) in the department of Putumayo. According to her, the soldier said he managed to escape through a hole in the fuselage of the aircraft that fell seconds before it exploded. He had been trapped between equipment and other soldiers after the fall.

The survivor in question is soldier Jhony Ortiz. His wife, Natalia Micanquer, said the soldier called her minutes after the accident and said he had survived by a miracle.

“Father in heaven wanted to give me a second chance at life and I am alive through a miracle,” said Ortiz, according to Micanquer. She stated that her husband suffered head injuries and fractured his arm. Ortiz was transferred to the Central Military Hospital in Bogotá, the capital of Colombia.

The soldier told his wife about scenes of panic inside the aircraft shortly after the crash and how he managed to leave the plane before it exploded. “I just remember a lot of screams. I saw a hole where I managed to get out, but my leg was stuck. There were soldiers on top of me, trampling me,” he said, according to his wife’s account.

Hours before the accident, the couple had also spoken on the phone. Micanquer reported that her husband informed her that he would board the Hercules plane and that it should arrive in Bogotá in the morning. Shortly afterwards, she received news that the aircraft had crashed and spent more than half an hour not knowing if her husband was alive, until she received a new call confirming that he had been rescued.

According to official information from the Colombian Military Forces, the plane crashed a few seconds after takeoff and was carrying 126 people on board, including 11 crew members from the Colombian Aerospace Force, 113 Army soldiers and two police officers. The final balance released by the authorities showed 69 dead and 57 injured, in what became one of the most serious air accidents ever recorded by the country’s Armed Forces in recent years.

The Ministry of Defense reported that, so far, there is no evidence of an external attack and that the explosions recorded after the crash were caused by the detonation of ammunition carried by the troops after the aircraft caught fire. The causes of the accident remain under investigation.