Last Updated on March 24, 2026 12:39 pm by INDIAN AWAAZ
AMN / NEWS DESK
At least 66 people were killed on Monday when a Colombian Air Force plane carrying 125 people crashed just after takeoff in the South American country.
“Unfortunately, the information is of 34 deaths,” Luis Emilio Bustos, the mayor of the nearby town of Puerto Leguizamo, was quoted as saying by Reuters initially, before the military updated the death toll at 66.
Defence Minister Pedro Sánchez said in a social media post that the plane was carrying troops when the tragic incident occurred in Puerto Leguizamo, a remote municipality in the Amazonian province of Putumayo, on the Peru and Ecuador borders. The commander of Colombia’s Air Force, Carlos Fernando Silva, issued a video saying that 125 people were on board the Hercules C-130 plane, including 114 passengers and 11 crew members.
The accident involved a Lockheed Martin-built Hercules C-130 transport plane, which crashed after flying just 1.5 kilometres after takeoff from Puerto Leguizamo. The ammunition and explosives being carried on board the military transport plane also detonated as a result of the crash, making rescue difficult.