Plane crashes with over 100 people onboard; Death toll rising VIDEO

Colombian Defense Minister Pedro Sánchez said the crash occurred when a Lockheed Martin C-130 Hercules aircraft took off from the city of Puerto Leguízamo, near the border with Peru, Reuters reported.

There were a total of 121 people on board, mostly members of the armed forces. According to the Colombian Air Force, at least 77 people were rescued from the crash site with injuries, while the exact number of fatalities is still being determined. Rescue teams have been dispatched to the crash area, located about two kilometers from the airport.

Footage released by local media shows thick black smoke rising from the crash site, while soldiers and local residents try to help the injured and extinguish the fire caused by the plane’s fall in a field surrounded by dense vegetation of the Amazon jungle. Colombian Air Force commander Carlos Fernando Silva said the cause of the crash is still unknown, but the aircraft had reported a problem before it went down near the runway.

Colombian President Gustavo Petro described the incident as a “terrible accident that should never have happened.”

In a social media post, he stated that he has been trying for years to modernize the military fleet, but that the process has been slowed by bureaucratic obstacles.

“If civilian or military administrative officials are not up to this challenge, they must be removed,” Petro said.

Sánchez stated that the aircraft was technically sound and that the crew was qualified, adding that it is already possible to rule out the possibility that the plane was shot down or that the crash was caused by an attack from one of the numerous armed groups operating in the country. Officials said that two medical planes were dispatched to the region to transport the injured to hospitals in Bogotá and other cities.

A spokesperson for Lockheed Martin said that the manufacturer is ready to provide support to Colombian authorities in the investigation. C-130 Hercules aircraft have been used worldwide since the 1950s, and Colombia acquired its first such planes in the late 1960s.

These aircraft are frequently used for transporting soldiers and equipment as part of military operations within the country.