A Colombian Air Force (FAC) military transport plane crashed in the Putumayo department. Initial technical indications suggest an apparent loss of lift during the initial climb phase. The impact caused a strong explosion and a column of smoke, prompting hundreds of local residents to mobilize on motorcycles via dirt roads to provide improvised first aid, later joining official Navy, Army, and National Police operations. Carlos Arbey, the municipal government secretary, confirmed that several occupants traveling in at least two platoons towards Puerto Asís were quickly rescued alive and taken to the local hospital. Due to severe trauma and the limited capacity of the primary medical center, the Military Forces activated an air bridge to transfer critical patients to the Central Military Hospital in Bogotá and other high-complexity facilities. The crashed Hercules, identified as FAC 1016, was a key piece for troop logistics in southern Colombia, where air transport is the only viable route due to the lack of land infrastructure. The aircraft joined the Colombian fleet in September 2020 through a cooperation program with the United States. To centralize crisis management, the Government installed a Unified Command Post (PMU) at the Military Air Transport Command (Catam). Through his social media account X, Defense Minister Pedro Sánchez confirmed the tactical deployment at the scene and classified the event as a "tragic accident." A Lockheed C-130H Hercules transport aircraft, carrying over 110 Army personnel, crashed this Monday three kilometers from the urban area of Puerto Leguízamo, Putumayo. The aircraft of the Colombian Aerospace Force (FAC) plummeted into an area of dense vegetation just a minute after taking off from the Caucayá (La Tagua) airport runway, triggering a large-scale institutional emergency response to evacuate survivors. The head of the portfolio warned that the official death toll is not yet consolidated and asked the media and the public to wait for institutional reports to avoid speculation.
