A 155-year-old Colombian military transport plane carrying 110 passengers and crew has crashed in tropical jungle on a remote jungle road close to Puerto Leguizamo, Putumayo.
The Ministry of Defense confirmed that the aircraft, a Lockheed C-130 Hercules, lost contact at the time with air traffic control shortly after 6pm locally. Search and rescue teams - including Colombian Air Force (FAC) helicopters and marine corps - have flown to the probable site of the crash in the terrain of dense Amazonian forests.
Fears of Mass Casualties
The Civil Defense stated the crash was so high impact that survivors are unlikely given ‘high impact to all people at the time when humans involved. The flight is believed to be a military convoy on military bases in the south of the country.
Challenging Rescue Operations
The crash took place in a region with a canopy and a large amount of variation in weather. Very high rainfall at the time the aircraft disappeared from radar has also been seen, according to initial analysis.
"Our hearts are with the families of our brave soldiers and the civilians on board," President Gustavo Petro says of today’s disaster in an online statement. "We have ordered the full mobilization of our rescue vehicles to be deployed as soon as possible to get to the scene. And everyone in charge of our rescue effort to get there at once and arrive safely.
The cause of the incident is under investigation. It is, without doubt, one of the most deadly aviation disasters of the Colombian Armed Forces to date.
