A twin-propeller Satena aircraft crashes in the Andes, killing all 15 onboard, including a lawmaker and election candidate
CÚCUTA, COLOMBIA: A twin-propeller aircraft carrying 15 people crashed in a mountainous region near the Venezuelan border, killing all passengers and crew.
The Colombian state airline Satena flight lost contact with air traffic control shortly before it was due to land in Ocana.
“There are no survivors,” an official from the aviation authority told AFP.
The cause of the crash was not immediately known.
The government deployed the Air Force to search the rugged, densely covered tract of the Andes’ eastern range.
Swaths of the surrounding countryside are controlled by Colombia’s largest guerrilla group, the National Liberation Army (ELN).
So far, seven bodies have been recovered, according to North Santander state governor William Villamizar.
One Colombian lawmaker and a legislative candidate were among the dead.
“I deeply regret these deaths,” leftist President Gustavo Petro wrote on X.
Among the dead was Representative Diogenes Quintero, a member of Colombia’s chamber of deputies, and candidate Carlos Salcedo.
Quintero’s party described him as “a leader committed to his community.”
He was born in Catatumbo, a conflict‑ridden region with coca crops and competing armed groups.
The aircraft was a Beechcraft 1900 twin-propeller plane.
With thick jungle and mountain ranges, much of Colombia is difficult to traverse by land.
Planes link many towns that in less rugged countries would be connected by train or highway.
