A Colombian military aircraft transporting 125 troops and crew members crashed shortly after taking off from southern Colombia Monday morning, injuring at least 48 people, according to the Colombian authorities.
Gen. Carlos Fernando Silva Rueda, the commander of Colombian Air Force, said the military was still investigating the cause of the accident and did not indicate whether there were any fatalities.
“At this time we don’t have any more details except that as soon as it took off, the airplane suffered a problem and descended toward the ground, a couple of kilometers from the airport,” the general said in a video statement.
The Colombian Air Force identified the plane as a C-130 Hercules, a large, four-engine turboprop aircraft typically used to transport heavy loads of cargo, military personnel and military vehicles.
The aircraft had taken off from Puerto Leguízamo, a riverside town in the Putumayo region, on Colombia’s border with Peru, at 9:50 a.m. before it crashed. There were 114 troops on board and 11 crew members, officials said.
The mayor of Puerto Leguízamo, Luis Emilio Bustos, reported an even higher number of injuries, saying in a voice message that 69 people had arrived at the town’s hospital and that 14 were in “grave condition.”
A video released by Noticias Caracol, a Colombian news outlet, seems to show the aircraft coming down over a field as a resident screams, “Oh, it fell!”
“I express my most sincere condolences to the families of those affected and, in respect for their pain, I call for avoiding speculation until official information is available,” Pedro Arnulfo Sánchez, the defense minister, said in a post on social media.
President Gustavo Petro said in a post on social media, “I hope we have no deaths in this horrific accident that should never have happened.”
Videos posted on social media by El Tiempo, the largest newspaper in Colombia, showed a large fire in a field and a chaotic scene as residents on motorbikes cleared the way for soldiers rushing to the scene, on foot and in trucks.
The crash occurred in an isolated pocket of Colombia on the banks of the Putumayo River, which divides northern Peru from Colombia. Mr. Bustos, the mayor, said that the injured would have to be airlifted to major hospitals elsewhere in the country.
“It’s very far,” he said. “It’s a remote town in a rural zone, and access is very limited.”
The Colombian military said it had deployed helicopters and an aircraft that could airlift as many as 50 people.
A video of the seeming crash site posted by Semana, a Colombian magazine, showed fire and smoke rising from what appeared to be remains of the aircraft. Another video posted by the magazine showed at least three soldiers, one of whom had blood on his face, being driven in the back of motorcycles by local residents.
Genevieve Glatsky contributed reporting from Bogotá, Colombia.
Luis Ferré-Sadurní is a reporter for The Times based in Bogotá, Colombia
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