A small passenger plane crash in northeast Colombia has killed all 15 people on board, including a local lawmaker and a congressional candidate. The state-owned airline Satena said the Beechcraft 1900 twin-engine turboprop took off before noon from Cúcuta near the Venezuelan border, bound for Ocaña in the Norte de Santander province, and lost contact with air traffic control about 12 minutes into the flight. No cause for the crash has yet been released, and the aircraft’s emergency beacon did not activate.
Among the casualties was lawmaker Diógenes Quintero, a human rights lawyer and representative for the Catatumbo region, and Carlos Salcedo, a candidate for Congress in upcoming elections, according to the passenger list released by Satena. All 13 passengers and two crew members on the flight were killed when the aircraft impacted in a remote rural area near Curasica in the Catatumbo region.
Images shared by local media showed significant damage to the fuselage at the crash site, which is located in a mountainous area near the Venezuelan border. The region is known for challenging terrain and the presence of illegal armed groups, which can complicate rescue and investigation efforts.
Colombian authorities, including rescue and investigation teams, are working at the scene to determine the sequence of events that led to the accident. An official investigation has been launched to establish the cause of the crash and to recover the remains of those on board.
