Scores of Colombian soldiers are feared dead after military transport plane crashed on takeoff in the south of the country.
The defense minister, Pedro Sánchez, said the accident happened as the Lockheed Martin Hercules C-130 plane was taking off from Puerto Leguízamo, deep in Colombia’s southern Amazon region on the border with Peru, as it transported troops from the armed forces.
“The exact number of victims and the causes of the crash have not yet been determined,” he said.
Local media quoted sources saying that between 80 and 110 soldiers were on board, and that the crash took place just 3km (2 miles) from an urban center.
Images shared online by local media outlets show a black cloud of smoke rising from a field where the plane crashed, and a truck with soldiers rushing to the site.
Sánchez did not specify the number of troops who were aboard the Hercules C-130. He said rescue teams had been sent to the site of the crash and that the cause of the accident still hasn’t been determined.
“This event is profoundly painful for the country,” Sánchez wrote. “We hope that our prayers can help to relieve some of the pain.”
US defense company Lockheed Martin did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
At the end of February, another Hercules C-130 belonging to the Bolivian Air Force crashed in the populous city of Alto, barely missing a residential block.
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