Colombia holds ceremony for 69 killed in military plane crash

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — The 69 members of the security forces who died in a military plane crash in Colombia were honored Friday through their photographs, arranged before the altar of a church during a solemn ceremony held in the capital, Bogota.

Gathered before the photos of the deceased, a group of crash survivors offered prayers. Some sat in wheelchairs attended by nurses, while others wore bandages on their arms or walked with difficulty.

The fatal accident occurred on Monday when a Colombian Aerospace Force C-130 Hercules aircraft crashed shortly after taking off from Puerto Leguizamo, a town in the Colombian Amazon. Aboard the plane were 126 members of the security forces, 57 of whom survived.

“We are deeply pained by what has happened, because when a soldier or a police officer falls, a part of our military family is broken,” said Gen. Hugo Alejandro López, commander of the Military Forces, during the religious ceremony.

A priest read aloud the names of the deceased one by one during the ceremony, affirming that they had “offered their lives in service to the homeland.”

Defense Minister Pedro Sánchez offered his condolences to the families mourning their loved ones, assuring them that they would have the full support of the institution.

“For some, it would be the last flight they would ever take in this world — one that would carry them toward the eternal flight. For others — those who survived — it was, in a sense, being born again,” said Sánchez.

The country observed three days of national mourning for one of the worst air disasters recorded in recent memory. Authorities are still investigating the cause of the accident, but they have ruled out the possibility of an armed attack by illegal groups and are currently analyzing the condition of the aircraft, the runway and the crew.

The accident has reignited a national debate regarding the state of the country’s aircraft fleet. Colombian President Gustavo Petro — the country’s first leftist head of state — questioned why an aircraft described as “so old” was permitted to operate, noting that it was manufactured in 1983 and donated by the United States in 2020.

Petro has also emphasized the need to modernize the Hercules fleet — military tactical transport aircraft capable of operating from rough, unpaved runways.

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