COLOMBIA–VENEZUELA BORDER — A Satena passenger plane carrying 15 people crashed near Colombia’s border with Venezuela on Monday, killing everyone on board, the country’s civil aviation authority said.
The twin‑propeller Beechcraft 1900 took off from the border city of Cucuta and lost contact with control towers shortly before it was due to land in nearby Ocana around midday (5 p.m. GMT). “There are no survivors,” an official from the aviation authority said. The aircraft was carrying 13 passengers and two crew members.
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Colombia’s government deployed the Air Force to locate the wreckage and recover the bodies in the rugged border region, where search operations are complicated by terrain and weather. Authorities did not immediately provide a cause for the crash.
Local officials said a politician and an election candidate were believed to be on the flight. “We have received with concern the information about the air accident … where my colleague Diogenes Quintero, Carlos Salcedo and their teams were traveling,” local parliamentarian Wilmer Carrillo said. Mr. Quintero is a member of Colombia’s chamber of deputies, and Mr. Salcedo is a Senate candidate in the upcoming elections.
Satena, Colombia’s state airline, operates regional routes connecting remote and border communities. The planned hop from Cucuta to Ocana is one of the short intra-department flights typical of its network, linking two cities in a heavily transited corridor near the Venezuela frontier.
The civil aviation authority said it was coordinating with the Air Force and local emergency services on the recovery effort and would release further details as they become available. There was no immediate word on the identities of the remaining victims.
Monday’s crash adds a fresh tragedy to a region where aviation provides essential connectivity for commerce and politics. Beechcraft 1900 aircraft, widely used globally for short-haul routes, are valued for their ability to operate in difficult environments and smaller airports. Investigators are expected to examine weather, maintenance records and communications logs to determine what caused the aircraft to go down shortly before its scheduled arrival in Ocana.
Images from the search area were not immediately released. Officials appealed for patience as teams worked to reach the site and secure remains.
The route between Cucuta and Ocana runs through northern Colombia’s borderlands, an area defined by steep hills and frequent cloud cover. While the civil aviation authority confirmed the loss of contact and the absence of survivors, it urged families to await official confirmation of the passenger manifest as recovery operations proceed.
Authorities said additional updates on the Colombia plane crash, including details on the recovery of the flight recorders and the status of the investigation, would be provided as information is verified.
By Abdiwahab Ahmed
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
