Small plane crashes in rural area of Colombia, killing 15 people including congressman

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BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — A small plane crashed Wednesday in a rural area of Norte de Santander province in northeast Colombia, killing all 15 people on board including a member of congress, authorities said.

Satena, the state-owned airline that operated the flight, said local officials in the community of Curasica notified authorities about where the plane had gone down and a rescue team was deployed to “assess the condition of the passengers.”

Colombia's Transportation Ministry later released a statement saying that “once the aircraft was located on site, authorities regrettably confirmed that there were no survivors.”

The aircraft, which has a registration number of HK4709, took off at 11:42 a.m. local time from the airport in Cúcuta, the department’s capital, bound for Ocaña, a municipality surrounded by mountains, on a flight that typically lasts about 40 minutes.

The aircraft’s final contact with air traffic control came minutes after takeoff, according to a statement released by Satena.

Officials did not provide a cause for the crash, but said there would be an investigation.

The small plane was carrying two crew members and 13 passengers, including Diógenes Quintero, 36, a member of the House of Representatives for Catatumbo, the airline said. Carlos Salcedo, a social leader who was running for Congress, was also among the victims.

Quintero was a renowned human rights defender in the troubled border region with Venezuela, where he was from and where the accident occurred.

A lawyer by profession, he was elected in 2022 as one of 16 representatives in the lower chamber to represent the more than 9 million victims of Colombia's decades-long armed conflict. The seats were created as part of a landmark 2016 peace agreement between the Colombian government and the country's largest guerrilla group known as the FARC.

His party, the U Party, expressed their remorse for his death and said he was “a leader committed to his region, with a firm vocation for service.”

Colombian President Gustavo Petro said via social media: “I am deeply saddened by these deaths. My heartfelt condolences to their families. May they rest in peace.”