By Luis Jaime Acosta, Iñigo Alexander and Sarah Morland
BOGOTA, March 23 (Reuters) – A Colombian Air Force plane carrying 125 people crashed just after takeoff deep in the country’s southern Amazon region on Monday, the air force said, and military sources said 71 people on board were 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.
It was not immediately clear how many, if any, were killed in the crash.
Defense 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 told Reuters 71 people had been rescued from the wreckage. Silva put the figure at 48 in the earlier video message.
A spokesperson for U.S. defense company Lockheed Martin said the company extended its condolences to those affected by the crash and that it was committed to helping Colombia as it investigates the incident.
“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 criticized bureaucratic obstacles for delaying his plans to modernize 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.”
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”.
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 U.S. under a law that allows for the transfer of used or surplus military equipment.
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.
(Reporting by Luis Jaime Acosta in Bogota and Iñigo Alexander and Sarah Morland in Mexico City; Additional reporting by Mike Stone in Washington; Editing by Gabriel Araujo, Julia Symmes Cobb, Chris Reese and Deepa Babington)
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