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By Andrew Stanton and Gabe Whisnant
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A Colombian military cargo plane crashed Monday in the country’s southern Amazon region while carrying about 110 soldiers, authorities said.
At least one person was killed and 77 people were injured in the crash, officials said.
Plane Crash in Colombia: What We Know
The Lockheed Martin C‑130 Hercules aircraft went down shortly after taking off from Puerto Leguízamo, a remote municipality in the Putumayo department near Colombia’s borders with Peru and Ecuador, according to the Defense Ministry. Defense Minister Pedro Sánchez said rescue teams were dispatched to the crash site and that the cause of the accident was under investigation.
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"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," Sánchez said in a statement on X. "This is a deeply painful event for the country."
In total, 125 people were on board the plane at the time, including 114 passengers and 11 crew members, according to General Carlos Fernando Silva, commander of the Columbian air force. In a separate statement, the air force said at least 77 people were rescued from the crash site with injuries. Rescue efforts were continuing, and the plane had been transporting 110 soldiers to another city in Putumayo province, according to the air force.
“At this moment we do not know details” of the crash, Silva said. “Except that the plane had a problem and went down about two kilometers from the airport.” He said two planes, with 74 beds, had been sent to the area to fly the injured back to hospitals in Bogota and elsewhere.
Images shared by Colombian media showed a large plume of smoke rising from a field near the crash site as military units rushed to the area. President Gustavo Petro said authorities were focused on emergency response efforts as information continued to emerge.
Images shared online by local media outlets show a black cloud of smoke rising from a field where the plane crashed, and a truck with soldiers rushing to the site.
Colombia President Gustavo Petro Responds to Crash
Colombian President Gustavo Petro responded to the crash on X, writing that military modernization has been a priority of his presidency but has faced "bureaucratic difficulties."
"I will not grant more time; it is the lives of the young people that are at stake," he wrote. "That is why, against wind and tide, I modernized the strategic air fleet and have requested the immediate purchase of helicopters and transport and troop aircraft to expand the transportation and troop mobility capacity in regions nearly wiped out by the failure of the Russian helicopters now vetoed."
He wrote that he hopes "we have no deaths in this horrific accident that should never have happened."
"Contrary to press reports, the military force has been losing capacity for fifteen years, and my decision has been to completely modernize its armament," he wrote.
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What is a Lockheed C-130 Hercules plane?
The C-130 Hercules took its first flight in 1954, according to Lockheed Martin. It was built in response to the U.S. Air Force needing a military transport plane capable of airlifting troops medium distances to short airfields, the company's website says.
"From the beginning, the C-130 has featured a large, unobstructed, fully-pressurized cargo hold that can rapidly be reconfigured for the carriage of troops, stretchers, passengers or airdrops of troops and/or equipment into battle zones," the website says. "The C-130’s high-wing design places the cargo floor at truck-bed height above the ground. The C-130 also features an integral 'roll-on/roll-off' rear-loading ramp Coupled with its tremendous lift capacity, long range, and austere landing field capabilities, it is a true tactical airlifter."
Its family includes 11 variants supporting more than 16 mission requirements, according to Lockheed Martin, which notes it has "been used to drop bombs, retrieve satellites in midair, conduct reconnaissance and attack ground targets with cannons."
Colombia received models of the planes in the 1960s and has modernized older models in recent years, Reuters reported.
This article uses reporting from the Associated Press.
Update 3/23/26, 2:06 p.m. ET: This article was updted with additional information.
Update 3/23/26, 5:01 p.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information.
Update 3/23/26, 7:01 p.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information.
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