17 soldiers killed in Colombian military chopper crash

By Richard McColl

BOGOTA, Colombia (AA) – Seventeen Colombian soldiers were killed after the military helicopter they were travelling in crashed in the department of Caldas, authorities confirmed Monday.

According to official reports, a team of investigators have reached the area near the town of Pensilvania, to find out what caused the helicopter to crash Sunday but officials have suggested that the tragedy was due to poor weather conditions.

Just a few hours after the helicopter was declared missing, President Juan Manuel Santos announced news of the crash at the military base in Tolemaida.

“I deeply regret this accident. We are going to investigate what happened. This is a mountainous region where there is always cloud cover and it is close to the town of Pensilvania, Caldas, and we hope that the investigation into the crash can show us what really happened,” he said.

“The soldiers were in the region of Uraba on a reconnaissance flight, many of them were experts in drone aircraft, others were supporting military operations against the National Liberation Army guerrillas,” he added.

The helicopter was flying a route between the city of Quibdo to the military base at Tolemaida. The last contact recorded was 35 miles north of the town of Mariquita in the department of Tolima.

The army high command expressed condolences to the families to the victims and said all flags will be flown at half-mast for five days.

There have been a number of military helicopter crashes in Colombia in 2016, all of which have been attributed to poor weather conditions.