Eight die, 71 ‘rescued’ as plane with 125 on board crashes in Colombia

BOGOTA: Eight people were killed after a Colombian air force plane carrying 125 passengers crashed just after takeoff deep in the country’s southern Amazon region on Monday. Military sources said 71 people on board had been rescued.

Colombian air force Commander Fernando Silva said in a video posted on social media that the plane was carrying 114 passengers and 11 crew members, and that authorities were still investigating the cause of the crash.

Defence Minister Pedro Sanchez said earlier on X the accident happened as the Lockheed Martin-built Hercules C-130 was taking off from Puerto Leguizamo on the border with Peru, as it transported troops.

“The exact number of victims and the causes of the crash have not yet been determined,” he said.

Footage from the scene published by local outlet BluRadio showed thick plumes of smoke rising from the wreckage. One video showed the plane heading towards the ground just seconds after takeoff. BluRadio said the crash took place just 3 km (2 miles) from an urban center.

Two military sources said 71 people had been rescued from the wreckage. Silva put the figure at 48 in the earlier video message.

US defence company Lockheed Martin did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“I hope there are no fatalities in this horrific accident that should never have happened,” President Gustavo Petro said in a post on X, in which he criticised bureaucratic obstacles for delaying his plans to modernise the military.

“I will grant no further delays; it is the lives of our young people that are at stake,” he said. “If civilian or military administrative officials are not up to this challenge, they must be removed.”

Hercules C-130 planes were first launched in the 1950s and Colombia acquired its first models in the late 1960s. It has more recently modernized some older C-130s with newer models sent from the US under a law that allows for the transfer of used or surplus military equipment.

Additional details of the plane involved in the accident were not immediately available. Several candidates in Colombia’s upcoming May 31 presidential election expressed condolences to the families of the injured soldiers on social media and called for an investigation.

Colombia’s Commander General of the Armed Forces Hugo Lopez vowed to respond with “the utmost responsibility, humanity and transparency”.

At the end of February, another Hercules C-130 belonging to the Bolivian Air Force crashed in the populous city of El Alto, barely missing a residential block.

More than 20 people died in that incident and another 30 were injured, and banknotes from the plane’s cargo scattered around the city, prompting clashes between residents and security forces.

The troubled border area has been the scene of heavy military activity in recent weeks, as the Colombian and Ecuadoran militaries try to tackle drug-running cartels and militias.

Images from the scene showed civilians clambering around the broken tail of the aircraft, marked FAC 1016, as smoke and flames billowed above the trees.

The crash is the second by a C-130 Hercules aircraft in South America in under a month. A Bolivian military cargo plane carrying banknotes crashed while landing near La Paz on February 27, leaving at least 24 people dead. The Hercules is a four-engine turboprop plane built by Lockheed Martin.

Renowned for its ability to operate from makeshift airstrips, it is widely used by militaries around the world and can carry everything from troops to vehicles.

Published in Dawn, March 24th, 2026