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Colombian Air Force plane with 110 soldiers crashes near Puerto Leguízamo in southern Amazon region on Peru border, says Defense Minister Pedro Sanchez.
The plane crashed on Monday.
A Colombian Air Force plane carrying 125 soldiers crashed after taking off near Puerto Leguízamo on Monday. At least eight people were killed and over 80 were injured in the crash, according to government officials.
Reuters quoted Defence Minister Pedro Sanchez saying the accident happened as the Lockheed Martin Hercules C-130 plane was taking off from Puerto Leguizamo, deep in Colombia’s southern Amazon region on the border with Peru, as it transported troops from the armed forces.
The Hercules aircraft had 125 people aboard when it went down shortly after departure from Puerto Leguizamo, near the southern border with Ecuador.
Rgional governor Jhon Gabriel Molina announced in a video statement that eight people were killed and over 80 others were injured, adding that investigators were probing the cause of the crash.
AFP quoted the minister saying in a post on social media, “Military units are already at the scene… It is a deeply painful event for the country. May our prayers bring some measure of comfort.
Following the incident, President Gustavo Petro said in a post on X, “I hope there are no fatalities in this horrific accident that should never have happened.”
“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.”
The governments of Ecuador and Venezuela offered condolences to the families of accident victims. 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.
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.
March 23, 2026, 10:04 PM IST
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