Death toll from Colombian military plane crash rises to 69 as search ends

The Hercules military transport plane crashed minutes after take-off near Colombia's southern border with Peru. Death toll from Colombian military plane crash rises to 69 as search ends Footage shows smoke and scattered debris from Air Force plane crash in Colombia Copyright current_year BBC. All rights reserved. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking. Copyright current_year BBC. All rights reserved. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking. A crowd of people, including army personnel, gather at the crash site. Some stand on the wing on the wrecked plane. Smoke rises and fires burn out of the wreckage. Watch: Footage shows smoke and scattered debris from Air Force plane crash in Colombia Debris of a plane's tail in a forest - smoke on the right of the debris Sixty-nine members of the Colombian security forces have been killed after a military plane crashed in the south of the country on Monday. The military announced on Wednesday that it had finished search and rescue operations. Fifty-seven people were also injured when the Hercules C-130 plane came down shortly after take-off near Colombia's border with Peru. Many were pulled out of the burning wreckage and taken to hospital by locals, who put them on the backs of their motorbikes. An investigation is under way to determine the cause of the accident. A total of 126 people were on board the transport plane, the Colombian armed forces said on Wednesday, updating the previous figure of 128. The plane had been travelling from the town of Puerto Leguízamo to Puerto Asís. In a series of posts on social media, Colombian President Gustavo Petro appeared to blame antiquated military hardware for the accident. Talking about the victims, but without mentioning the Hercules plane directly, he wrote: "This piece of scrap metal was bought in 2020 and came down, let's ask why." In an earlier post, he blamed "bureaucratic problems" for holding up his plans to modernise the armed forces' equipment and their aircraft. "I will allow no further delays, the lives of our young people are at stake," he wrote. Mobile phone footage shared on social media showed the plane losing height shortly after take-off, followed by a large plume of smoke rising from the crash site and the sound of explosions. Colombia's defence minister said the sound came from ammunition on board blowing up in the flames. He added that there was no indication that the plane had come under attack from any of the armed groups which are active in the Putumayo region. A local farmer told AFP news agency that he had heard a loud bang before the Hercules crashed into trees near his home. "I felt an explosion in the air and, when I looked up, the plane was flying close to the house on my plot," Noé Mota said. According to the latest update from the armed forces, 113 members of the army, two police officers and 11 crew members were on board. The crash is the second time a Hercules C-130 has been involved in a deadly accident in as many months. On 27 February, a Hercules C-130 belonging to the Bolivian army, carrying a shipment of banknotes, overshot the runway on its approach to the airport in El Alto, in Bolivia, and crashed into traffic on a nearby highway. Twenty-four people were killed in that incident. The plane came down close to the airfield in Puerto Leguízamo, in Putumayo province A map of Colombia shows the airport in Puerto Leguízamo, near the border with Peru. Members of the Bolivian Armed Forces guard the wreckage of the plane At least 20 killed after military plane carrying banknotes crashes in Bolivia Soldiers and rescuers are seen near a Colombian Air Force C-130 Hercules plane from which thick smoke is rising after the aircraft crashed during take-off in Puerto Leguízamo, Colombia. Photo: 23 March 2026 Colombian military plane crash kills at least 66 Two pilots died after a passenger plane collided with a fire truck at New York's LaGuardia Airport. Investigators released details from the final three minutes of cockpit and tower communications, which showed controllers cleared both the plane and a fire truck to cross the runway. Investigators say the Cessna’s engine was not cleaned properly which led to an oil leak. Colombia's defence minister says it was a "tragic accident" but the cause is not yet clear. Colombia has become a tech hub for Latin America, but attracting investors is a challenge. Colombia's leader says he urged Trump to work with him to target drug kingpins. Trump says they "got along very well". As the US and Colombian presidents meet, Orla Guerin joins a police unit tasked with finding and destroying jungle cocaine labs. BBC Senior international correspondent Orla Guerin joined a special operation over Colombia's cocaine heartland, tasked with destroying crude cocaine labs hidden deep in the jungle.