Colombia: Fourteen people killed as plane crashes near Villavicencio, say authorities
Twelve people and two pilots were killed when the plane crashed after losing contact with the air traffic control.
Fourteen people on board a plane in central Colombia were killed on Saturday after it lost contact with air traffic control and crashed following technical problems, AFP reported. Colombia’s Civil Aviation Authority said the DC-3 aircraft had declared an emergency on Saturday morning while en route to Villavicencio.
The twin-engine propeller plane, owned by Laser Aereo airlines, had departed from the town San José del Guaviare. It was forced to stop over in at San José del Guaviare because of poor weather, BBC reported. It crashed near its destination of Villavicencio and the wreckage was discovered an hour after air traffic control lost contact with the plane.
The country’s Civil Aeronautics later in a statement on Twitter named all the 14 people, including the pilot and co-pilot, who died in the accident. According to Reuters, the deceased also included the mayor of a small town in the province of Vaupes.