Death toll in Colombian military plane crash rises to 69

The accident occurred in Puerto Leguizamo, a remote municipality in the Amazonian province of Putumayo.

The number of people killed when a Colombian military plane crashed after takeoff in the country’s south has risen to at least 69, with 57 others wounded, authorities say.

The Lockheed Martin-built C-130 Hercules aircraft with 126 people on board went down on Monday, shortly after it had departed from Puerto Leguizamo, near the southern border with Ecuador and Peru, strewing burning wreckage onto the jungle floor.

The military said in a statement that the wounded had been transported to several hospitals, and the remains of the deceased were sent for identification by forensic officials in the capital, Bogota, before being returned to family members.

President Gustavo Petro blamed his predecessor, Ivan Duque, for having accepted a “junk” plane from the United States, saying the crash raised questions about the quality of materiel being sent to the country’s military by Washington. The Hercules CJ-130 was donated to Colombia by the US in 2020 through a cooperation agreement between the two countries.

“Extremely expensive gifts. The maintenance costs more than a new plane – and how much are the lives lost worth? Question: Why did you buy a plane with 43 years of service?” Petro wrote on X, adding that he had requested the replacement of the Hercules aircraft a year ago.

Duque called Petro “vile and unintelligent” and urged him to conduct a thorough probe into the matter.

“You should conduct a rigorous investigation that looks at how much weight the plane was carrying compared to the length of the runway,” Duque wrote.

Minister of Defence Pedro Sanchez said the plane hit the ground just 1.5km (0.9 miles) away from where it took ⁠off, leading to the detonation of ammunition and setting the aircraft ablaze.

Sanchez said there ⁠was no indication of an “attack by illegal actors”.

Jhon Molina, governor of the Putumayo department where the crash took place, told Blu Radio that the airport “has several problems” and “needs more investment”.

Colombia acquired its first C-130 Hercules in the late 1960s and has more recently modernised some older C-130s with newer models sent from the US.

Last month, another C-130 belonging to the Bolivian air force crashed in the city of El Alto, barely missing a residential building. More than 20 people were killed in that crash, and 30 were injured.