A twin-propeller aircraft carrying 15 people, including Colombian lawmaker Diogenes Quintero, crashed in a mountainous region near the Venezuelan border on January 28.
The plane, which departed from the border city of Cúcuta, lost contact with air traffic control shortly before it was scheduled to land in the nearby town of Ocaña around 5:00 p.m. GMT, according to AFP.
“There are no survivors,” an official from the aviation authority confirmed. The aircraft was carrying 13 passengers and two crew members.
The Cúcuta region is known for its rugged terrain, unpredictable weather, and areas controlled by Colombia’s largest guerrilla group, the National Liberation Army.
In response, the government deployed the Colombian Air Force to locate the aircraft and recover the bodies, NDTV reported.
Local parliamentarian Wilmer Carrillo expressed concern, saying, “We have received with concern the information about the air accident in which my colleague, Diogenes Quintero, Carlos Salcedo, and their teams were travelling.”
Quintero is a member of Colombia’s Chamber of Deputies, while Salcedo is a candidate in the upcoming elections.
The crash adds to a history of fatal aviation incidents involving prominent figures in Colombia. In January 2025, a private plane crash in central-eastern Colombia killed all six people on board, including singer Yeison Jiménez.
