A Colombian military Lockheed Martin C-130 transport aircraft crashed during takeoff Monday from Puerto Leguízamo, near the Peruvian border, killing 66 people and leaving several others injured and missing, officials said.
The aircraft was carrying 128 people: 11 Air Force members, 115 army personnel and two national police officers, according to Hugo Alejandro López, head of the nation’s armed forces. Authorities said the updated death toll—66—was nearly double earlier reports as search and recovery operations continued at the scene.
Defense Minister Pedro Sánchez said the accident occurred during takeoff. Firefighters and local officials reported the plane struck the ground near the end of the runway and a wing clipped a tree as it fell, sparking a fire. Emergency responders said some explosive devices aboard the aircraft detonated after the impact.
Residents in the remote area were first on scene and pulled survivors from the wreckage. Video circulating from the site showed people transporting wounded soldiers on motorcycles down dirt roads to reach medical help. Military vehicles later arrived, but officials said the crash site’s isolation made access difficult and hampered rescue efforts.
By officials’ counts, 57 survivors were taken to hospitals, with 30 in non-serious condition at a military clinic. Four people remained unaccounted for as search teams continued working at the site.
President Gustavo Petro, who is nearing the end of his term, criticized bureaucratic delays that he said had stalled plans to modernize the armed forces. “I will grant no further delays; it is the lives of our young people that are at stake,” he wrote on X, and he called for officials who are not up to the task to be removed. Several presidential candidates in the May 31 election offered condolences and urged an investigation.
A Lockheed Martin spokesperson said the company was committed to assisting Colombian authorities with the investigation. The C-130 Hercules first flew in the 1950s and Colombia acquired its first C-130s in the late 1960s; more recent fleets have been modernized in part with used U.S. transfers under provisions that permit the transfer of surplus equipment. Officials noted the tail number of the crashed plane matches the first of three aircraft delivered by the United States in recent years.
The crash is the latest deadly C-130 accident in the region: in late February, a Bolivian Air Force C-130 went down near El Alto, killing more than 20 people and injuring about 30 amid chaotic scenes at the wreckage. C-130s are commonly used in Colombia to move troops amid a decades-long internal conflict that has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives.
Colombian authorities said they will continue search and recovery operations, investigate the cause of the accident and coordinate with international partners as needed.
