A small plane crashed in a rural area of northeastern Colombia’s Norte de Santander department on Wednesday, killing all 15 people on board, including a local lawmaker, authorities said.
Satena, the state airline that operated the flight, said local officials in the community of Curasica had informed authorities where the plane had crashed, and a rescue team had been deployed to “assess the condition of the passengers”.
Colombia’s Ministry of Transport later released a statement saying “once the plane was located, authorities regrettably confirmed that it was not alive.”
The plane, registration number HK4709, took off at 11:42 am from Cúcuta airport, the capital of the department, to Ocaña, a municipality surrounded by mountains, on a flight that usually takes about 40 minutes.
The plane’s last contact with air traffic control came minutes after takeoff, according to a statement released by Satena.
Officials did not release a cause of the crash, but said an investigation would be conducted.
The small plane was carrying two crew members and 13 passengers, including lawmaker Diógenes Quintero, who represents victims of the internal armed conflict in his region, the airline said. Members of Quintero’s team were also on the plane, as well as Carlos Salcedo, a candidate for congressional elections in March.
“Today, life took two members of this group: Diógenes Quintero, a man who dedicated his life to serving those most in need, and Natalia Acosta, who always took care of the whole group and filled every space with happiness,” says a statement from Quintero’s group. posted on social networks.
Quintero was a prominent human rights defender in the troubled Venezuelan border region, where he was from and where the crash happened.
A lawyer by profession, he was elected in 2022 as one of the 16 representatives of the lower house to represent more than 9 million victims of Colombia’s decades-long armed conflict. The sit-ins were created as part of a 2016 peace deal between the Colombian government and the country’s largest guerrilla group known as the FARC.
His party, the U Party, expressed regret at his death and called him “a leader committed to his region with a strong vocation to serve”.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro said in an X publication that he was “deeply saddened by these deaths.”
“My deepest sympathies to their families, and may they rest in peace,” he said in the message.
Colombia’s Vice President Francia Marquez said in a social media post that she mourned Quintero’s death and her “heartfelt condolences go out to the families mourning this irreparable loss that has plunged the entire country into mourning.”