Bogotá: Colombia’s military reported on Monday that around 80 troops are feared dead following the crash of a transport plane in the southern part of the country.

A military source told AFP that the Hercules aircraft, carrying two platoons, approximately 80 personnel, crashed shortly after taking off from Puerto Leguizamo, near the southern border with Ecuador.

Defence Minister Pedro Sánchez posted on X, calling it a “tragic accident” in Puerto Leguizamo, a remote municipality in the Amazonian Putumayo province bordering Peru and Ecuador.

Images shared by local media showed a black plume of smoke rising from a field at the crash site, with a truck carrying soldiers rushing to the scene.

Sánchez did not confirm the exact number of troops aboard the Hercules C-130. He added that rescue teams had been dispatched to the site, and the cause of the crash remains unknown.

“This event is profoundly painful for the country,” Sánchez wrote. “We hope that our prayers can help to relieve some of the pain.”