LA PAZ, Bolivia — A cargo plane carrying money crashed Friday near Bolivia’s capital, killing at least 15 people, damaging vehicles and sending onlookers chasing after the scattering banknotes and hindering rescue efforts, an official said.
Defense Minister Marcelo Salinas said the Hercules C-130 plane was transporting newly printed Bolivian currency when it “landed and veered off the runway” at an airport in El Alto, a city adjacent to La Paz, the administrative capital, before ending up in a nearby field. Firefighters put out the flames that engulfed the aircraft.
Fire chief Pavel Tovar said at least 15 people died but he did not clarify whether the dead were passengers aboard the plane or in the cars on the nearby highway.
Salinas did not specify how many people had been killed in the crash and said the cause was being investigated.
Bolivian Air Force Gen. Sergio Lora said two of the plane’s six crew members had not been found as of late Friday, adding that the aircraft was arriving from the eastern city of Santa Cruz.
Images on social media showed debris from the aircraft, destroyed cars and bodies scattered on the road. According to Tovar, at least 15 vehicles were damaged.
The plane, belonging to the Bolivian air force, was transporting money to La Paz, and images on social media showed people rushing to collect the bills scattered at the crash site, while police in riot gear tried to disperse the crowd.
Tovar said the hundreds of people trying to collect the spilled bills were hindering rescue efforts.
More than 500 soldiers and 100 police officers took control of the area to disperse the crowd, according to official reports. Police and military personnel burned the cash boxes in the presence of Central Bank President David Espinoza, who said the bills “have no legal value because they never entered circulation,” without clarifying what that meant.
Espinoza did not specify the amount of money being transported, but he said the banknotes had arrived in Santa Cruz from abroad.
Authorities temporarily suspended all flights to and from the terminal.
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