Colombian Military Plane Crash: Dozens Dead in Hercules C-130 Accident

A Colombian military plane crashed in the south of the country on Monday although carrying 125 people, most of them soldiers. The Hercules C-130 aircraft caught fire upon impact, creating a thick plume of smoke visible for kilometers, according to reports.

The death toll has risen to at least 66, Colombian authorities confirmed, making it one of the country’s deadliest aviation disasters in recent years. Earlier reports from regional Governor Jhon Gabriel Molina indicated eight confirmed fatalities and over 80 injured, including 14 in critical condition. The number of deaths was later revised upwards to 34 before climbing again to the current figure.

Onboard the aircraft were 112 soldiers from the National Army, two police officers, and 11 crew members belonging to the Air Force. The crash occurred around 10:00 a.m. Local time (2:00 p.m. GMT) as the plane was taking off from Puerto Leguizamo, in the Amazon region of southern Colombia, near the border with Peru, Defense Minister Pedro Arnulfo Sanchez announced via social media.

Initial reactions to the crash included a statement from Colombian President Gustavo Petro, who used the incident to criticize bureaucratic obstacles delaying modernization plans for the armed forces. “I will not grant any more delays, because what is at stake is the life of our young people,” Petro wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. “If civil or military administrative officials are not up to this challenge, they must be removed.”

The Hercules C-130 aircraft, first launched in the 1950s, has been a mainstay of the Colombian military since the late 1960s. Colombia has recently modernized some of its older C-130s with newer models transferred from the United States under a law allowing the transfer of surplus military equipment.

As of Tuesday, March 24, 2026, the cause of the crash remains under investigation. No further official statements have been released regarding the ongoing recovery efforts or the potential for further revisions to the casualty count.