Officials say 48 survivors had been found with military source saying 80 people may have been killed
\n BOGOTA
\nA Colombian military plane carrying 125 soldiers and crew members crashed on take-off early Monday, killing at least 66 people and injuring dozens of others, officials said.
\nThe C-130 Hercules aircraft went down shortly after departure from Puerto Leguizamo, near the southern border with Ecuador and Peru, strewing burning wreckage on the jungle floor.
\nA military source told AFP that 58 soldiers had died, along with six air force personnel and two police officers.
\nThe updated toll came shortly after the local government secretary Carlos Claros told RCN television that 33 people had died, and that efforts were being made to treat and evacuate dozens of others injured.
\nHe added that investigators were probing the cause of the crash.
\nThe border area where the plane went down has been the scene of heavy military activity in recent weeks, as the Colombian and Ecuadorian militaries try to tackle drug-running cartels and militias.
\nAFP images from the scene showed civilians clambering around the broken tail of the aircraft, marked FAC 1016, as smoke and flames billowed above the trees.
\nDefence Minister Pedro Sanchez expressed his \u201cdeep sorrow\u201d over the disaster, saying it was too early to determine the cause of the crash.
\n\u201cIt is a deeply painful event for the country. May our prayers bring some measure of comfort,\u201d Sanchez said.
\nGeneral Carlos Fernando Silva Rueda said that 114 troops were aboard and 11 crew members, travelling from Puerto Leguizamo to an Amazon outpost nearby.
\n\u201cThe airport is small and there are several difficulties\u201d hindering the evacuation of bodies and the injured, Jhon Gabriel Molina, governor of the Putumayo region, said in a Facebook video.
\n\u2018Horrific accident\u2019
\nLocals in the area recounted hearing a loud bang.
\n\u201cI felt an explosion in the air and, when I looked up, the plane was flying close to the house on my plot,\u201d said Noe Mota, a farmer.
\nColombia\u2019s President Gustavo Petro shared footage showing the aircraft attempting to gain altitude before plummeting down.
\nHe described the crash on X as a \u201chorrific accident\u201d and emphasised a need to modernise Colombia\u2019s military hardware, though he did not specifically link the crash to the plane\u2019s condition.
\nThe crash is the second by a C-130 Hercules, a four-engine turboprop built by Lockheed Martin, in South America in under a month.
\nA Bolivian military cargo plane carrying banknotes crashed while landing near La Paz on February 27, leaving at least 24 people dead.
\nRenowned for its ability to operate from makeshift airstrips, it is widely used by militaries around the world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Officials say 48 survivors had been found with military source saying 80 people may have been killed BOGOTA A Colombian military plane carrying 125 soldiers and crew members crashed on take-off early Monday, killing at least 66 people and injuring dozens of others, officials said. The C-130 Hercules aircraft went down shortly after departure from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":538078,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-538052","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n