Plane Crash in Colombia Kills Lawmaker, 14 Others

Bogota: (Web Desk) – A twin-propeller aircraft carrying 15 people, including a sitting Colombian lawmaker, crashed on Wednesday in a mountainous region near the Venezuelan border, killing all passengers and crew, Colombian authorities said.

The aircraft, a Beechcraft 1900, took off from the border city of Cúcuta and lost contact with air traffic control shortly before it was scheduled to land in Ocaña around noon local time. The short domestic flight, operated by state-run airline Satena, was expected to last just 23 minutes.

There were 13 passengers and two crew members on board. “There are no survivors,” an aviation authority official told AFP, adding that the cause of the crash was not immediately known.

The government deployed the Colombian Air Force to search the crash site, located in a rugged and densely forested section of the eastern Andes, where rapidly changing weather conditions complicate rescue operations.

Parts of the surrounding area are under the influence of the National Liberation Army (ELN), Colombia’s largest remaining guerrilla group, further hampering access. North Santander Governor William Villamizar said that seven bodies had been recovered so far.

Among those killed were Representative Diogenes Quintero, 36, a member of Colombia’s lower house of Congress, and Carlos Salcedo, a legislative candidate for upcoming elections. President Gustavo Petro expressed condolences in a post on X, saying he deeply regretted the loss of life and offered solidarity to the victims’ families.

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Quintero’s party described him as “a leader committed to his community.” He hailed from Catatumbo, a conflict-ridden region marked by coca cultivation and the presence of multiple armed groups.

Due to Colombia’s difficult terrain—characterised by dense jungle and snow-capped mountain ranges—air travel remains a vital link between many remote towns that lack reliable road or rail connections.