Colombian Congressman Among 15 Dead in Plane Crash

Colombian airline Satena confirmed that the plane that went missing on Wednesday in the department of Norte de Santander (on the border with Venezuela), with 15 people on board, has been found crashed. There are no survivors among the passengers and crew. On board were 13 passengers, including Congressman Diógenes Quintero Amaya, and two crew members. Congressman Quintero Amaya was a representative to the Chamber for the Special Peace Constituency (Citrep) in the Catatumbo region. He served as the regional Ombudsman in Ocaña and was seeking re-election in the upcoming legislative elections on March 8 as a candidate for the U Party for Norte de Santander. The crew was composed of Captains Miguel Vanegas and José de la Vega. According to Satena, the aircraft with registration HK-4709, which was covering the Cúcuta-Ocaña route, 'suffered a fatal accident, with a toll of 15 people dead'. The wreckage was found by peasants from the village of Curacica, a mountainous area that is part of the municipality of La Playa de Belén (Norte de Santander), located just half an hour from Ocaña. The plane, a twin-engine Beechcraft 1900, took off this morning from Camilo Daza airport in Cúcuta, the capital of Norte de Santander, for a 25-minute flight to Ocaña, the department's second-largest city, but contact was lost and it did not arrive at Aguas Claras airport, where it was supposed to land. On board the plane, in addition to Congressman Diógenes Quintero Amaya, was his assistant Natalia Acosta. The other passengers were identified as María Álvarez Barbosa, Carlos Salcedo (a congressional candidate), Rolando Peñaloza Gualdrón, María Díaz Rodríguez, Maira Avendaño Rincón, Anayisel Quintero, Karen Parales Vera, Anirley Julio Osorio, Gineth Rincón, Maira Sánchez Criado, and Juan Pacheco Mejía. Satena added that flight NSE8849 that 'took off around 11:42 am and was scheduled to land around 12:05 pm, reported its last contact with air traffic control at 11:54 am'. The political party expressed 'its deep consternation at this painful loss, which not only mourns our party but also the country' because Quintero 'was a leader committed to his region, with a firm vocation for service and a deep sense of public responsibility'.