All 15 feared dead in Colombia plane crash

All 15 people on board a small aircraft operated on behalf of Colombia’s state airline Satena are believed to have died after it crashed in the country’s northeast, local authorities said.

Rescue services confirmed they had located the wreckage of the Beechcraft 1900D aircraft in a mountainous area of La Playa de Belén municipality, in the Norte de Santander department. According to broadcaster Noticias Caracol, there were no survivors.

The plane was carrying 13 passengers and two crew members on a domestic flight from Cúcuta to Ocaña when it disappeared from radar on Wednesday.

Among those killed were Diógenes Quintero, a member of Colombia’s Chamber of Representatives, congressional candidate Carlos Salcedo, and former Ocaña municipal councillor Juan David Pacheco and his wife, reports said.

Search and rescue operations in the Catatumbo region were complicated by difficult terrain and poor weather conditions.

By Vugar Khalilov