A small plane crashed Wednesday in a rural area of the Norte de Santander department in northeast Colombia, killing all 15 people on board, including a local lawmaker, authorities said.
Satena, the state-owned airline that operated the flight, said local officials in the community of Curasica notified authorities about where the plane had gone down, and a rescue team was deployed to “assess the condition of the passengers.”
Colombia’s Transportation Ministry later released a statement saying that “once the aircraft was located on site, authorities regrettably confirmed that there were no survivors.”
The aircraft, which has a registration number of HK4709, took off at 11:42 a.m. local time from the airport in Cúcuta, the department’s capital, bound for Ocaña, a municipality surrounded by mountains, on a flight that typically lasts about 40 minutes.
The aircraft’s final contact with air traffic control came minutes after takeoff, according to a statement released by Satena.
Officials did not provide a cause for the crash, but said there would be an investigation.
The small plane was carrying two crew members and 13 passengers, including lawmaker Diógenes Quintero, who represents the victims of the internal armed conflict in his region, the airline said. Members of Quintero’s team were also aboard the plane, as well as Carlos Salcedo, a candidate in the upcoming congressional elections in March.
“Today, life took two of this team’s members: Diógenes Quintero, a man who dedicated his life to serving those most in need, and Natalia Acosta, who always looked after the entire team and filled every space with happiness,” reads a statement from Quintero’s team posted to social media.
Quintero was a renowned human rights defender in the troubled border region with Venezuela, where he was from and where the accident occurred.
A lawyer by profession, he was elected in 2022 as one of 16 representatives in the lower chamber to represent the more than 9 million victims of Colombia’s decades-long armed conflict. The seats were created as part of a landmark 2016 peace agreement between the Colombian government and the country’s largest guerrilla group, known as the FARC.
His party, the U Party, expressed its remorse for his death and said he was “a leader committed to his region, with a firm vocation for service.”
Colombian President Gustavo Petro said in a post on X that he was “deeply sorry for these deaths.”
“My full solidarity to their families, and may they rest in peace,” he said in the post.
Colombian Vice President Francia Marquez said in a social media post that she mourned the death of Quintero and her “heartfelt condolences go out to the families who are mourning this irreparable loss that has plunged the entire country into mourning.”