At least eight people died and 83 were injured, 14 of them in critical condition, in the crash of a Colombian Air Force (FAC) Hercules C-130 plane with 125 people on board, which occurred this Monday in Puerto Leguízamo, in the Putumayo department, the regional governor's office reported preliminarily. 'Eight fatalities and 83 injured are reported, 14 of them in critical condition,' said Putumayo Governor Jhon Gabriel Molina, after the FAC commander, General Carlos Silva, also reported, based on preliminary data, that '48 injured have been rescued.' The governor indicated during a press conference that there were 125 people on the aircraft, as the FAC commander said, including '112 members of the National Army, 11 crew members of the Air Force, and two police officers.' He also noted that several of the injured have already been transferred or are in the process of being evacuated to nearby cities such as Neiva and Florencia, capitals of the Huila and Caquetá departments, respectively. Members of the Colombian Armed Forces, rescuers, and volunteers are conducting rescue operations in Puerto Leguizamo (Colombia). The accident occurred at 9:50 local time (14:50 GMT), when the FAC 1016 aircraft, covering the route between Puerto Leguízamo and Puerto Asís, crashed to the ground and caught fire shortly after takeoff, for reasons that are still under investigation. 'As soon as the aircraft took off, it suffered some problem and crashed to the ground a couple of kilometers from the airport,' explained General Silva. According to the specialized portal SA Defensa, the crashed aircraft was 43 years old, as it entered service in the United States Air Force in 1983, which in 2020 transferred it to the Colombian Air Force. Rescue operations are being carried out with the support of the National Navy and municipality residents, in a jungle area of difficult access that can only be reached by air or river. The FAC deployed an evacuation operation by sending an ambulance plane, as well as aircraft capable of mass transport of the injured, including a C-130 plane with 50 stretchers and a Casa 295 with 24 stretchers. Likewise, the institution will send a medicalized UH-60 helicopter and additional medical personnel for the classification and evacuation of the injured. In turn, the President of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, published a preliminary report on X different from that reported by regional authorities and stated that 'to date there have been 77 injured in the hospital, one dead and 43 people to be located'.
