Colombia. A very sad news has come out from the South American country Colombia, where a total of 15 people, including an MP and an election candidate, lost their lives in a plane crash on Wednesday. According to information shared by aviation authorities, the accident occurred in the inaccessible mountainous area of North Santandar, near the Venezuelan border. The crashed plane belonged to Colombia’s government airline Satena. This twin engine propeller plane took off from Cucuta city to Ocaña. Just 12 minutes after takeoff, the plane lost contact with Air Traffic Control (ATS), causing panic.
After hours of intense search operations, the Air Force found the wreckage of the aircraft in the rural and mountainous area of Playa de Belen. By the time relief and rescue teams reached there, all 15 passengers on board the plane had died. Those who lost their lives in this accident also included 36-year-old Diogenes Quintero, who was an active member of the Parliament of Colombia. Quintero represented the Catatumbo region, which has long been in the news for conflict and coca cultivation. He was elected in 2022 as one of 16 special representatives on seats reserved for victims of the country’s decades-long internal conflict. Along with him, Carlos Salcedo, a candidate for the upcoming elections, also died in this tragic incident. The place where this plane crashed is a very rugged and challenging area of the Andes Mountains. The area is considered to be under the influence of Colombia’s largest guerrilla group, the National Liberation Army. According to preliminary estimates, the difficult geography of the area and suddenly changing weather could be the reason for this accident. Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro expressed deep condolences over the tragedy and expressed condolences to the families of the victims. At present, aviation agencies are conducting a detailed investigation to determine whether the real cause of the accident was a technical fault or bad weather. It is noteworthy that a day before this, a major plane accident had taken place in India too, in which Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar died in a charter plane crash in Baramati.
