This is a developing story. Casualty figures are being updated as rescue operations continue.
A Colombian Air Force transport plane carrying 125 people crashed shortly after takeoff on Monday, 23 March 2026, in the remote southern Amazon department of Putumayo, triggering an emergency response and leaving dozens of soldiers unaccounted for.
The aircraft, a Lockheed Martin C-130H Hercules, went down near Puerto Leguizamo, a municipality close to Colombia’s border with Peru, approximately two kilometres from the Caucaya Airport from which it had departed. It was transporting troops from the national security forces when it came down in a jungle clearing. Footage circulated by Colombian media showed thick black smoke and flames rising from the wreckage.
Colombian Air Force Commander General Carlos Fernando Silva confirmed the aircraft was carrying 114 passengers and 11 crew members, totalling 125 people on board. At least 48 people had been rescued alive as of early Monday afternoon, with medical evacuation flights dispatched to transport the injured to hospitals in Bogota and other cities. The status of more than 40 others remained unclear.
President Gustavo Petro announced in a post on X that at least one person had been confirmed dead and 77 injured, though the figures were expected to change as rescue and recovery efforts advanced. “The causes of the Hercules plane accident are still unknown,” he said, adding: “Strength to the families of the young soldiers of the Homeland.”
Defence Minister Pedro Sanchez confirmed the crash and said investigators had found no evidence that criminal groups were involved. He described the aircraft as being in airworthy condition at the time of departure, with a crew that was “duly qualified.” “The exact number of victims and the causes of the crash have not yet been determined,” he said.
President Petro used the occasion to renew a long-running call for military modernisation, arguing that bureaucratic resistance had blocked his government’s efforts to replace ageing equipment. “I will grant no further delays; it is the lives of our young people that are at stake,” he said, adding that officials unable to meet the challenge “must be removed.”
The C-130H Hercules involved in Monday’s crash was donated to the Colombian Air Force by the United States Air Force in September 2020. Flight data indicated the aircraft first entered service in March 1965. Colombia has operated the Hercules fleet for decades, relying on the type to reach remote jungle outposts inaccessible by road.
The crash follows a separate C-130 Hercules accident involving the Bolivian Air Force in the city of El Alto at the end of February 2026, in which more than 20 people died.
NewsGhana is monitoring this story and will update as official figures are confirmed.
