Plane Crash in Northern Colombia Kills All 15 On Board, Including Lawmaker and Election Candidate

All 15 people on board a passenger aircraft were killed after a plane crash in northern Colombia, raising air safety concerns. The aircraft, operated by Colombia’s airline Satena, went down while en route to the city of Ocaña, near the Venezuelan border.

Satena confirmed in a statement that the Beechcraft 1900 aircraft “suffered a fatal accident” on Wednesday. Flight NSE 8849 had departed from Cúcuta with 13 passengers and two crew members. Contact with the plane was lost about 11 minutes before its scheduled landing at 12:05pm local time. The wreckage was later located in a remote mountainous area.

Among the victims were Colombian lawmaker Diógenes Quintero Amaya and Carlos Salcedo, a candidate in upcoming congressional elections. A statement shared on Quintero’s Facebook page described him as a public servant dedicated to helping vulnerable communities.

Quintero occupied one of the 16 special seats in Colombia’s parliament reserved for victims of the country’s decades-long armed conflict involving the state and rebel groups, including the now-demobilised Farc.

Search and recovery operations are ongoing, with Colombia’s armed forces assisting due to difficult terrain and security risks. Parts of the region are under the influence of the ELN guerrilla group.

Norte de Santander Governor William Villamizar said seven bodies had been recovered so far.

President Gustavo Petro expressed condolences, saying he was “deeply sorry for these deaths”, as authorities launch investigations into the cause of the crash nationwide promptly.