A twin-propeller aircraft carrying 15 people, including Colombian lawmaker Diogenes Quintero, crashed on January 28 in a mountainous region near the Venezuelan border, officials confirmed.
According to AFP, the plane departed from the border city of Cúcuta and lost contact with air traffic control shortly before it was scheduled to land in Ocaña around 5:00 p.m. GMT. An aviation authority official confirmed, “There are no survivors.”
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 (ELN).
In response to the crash, the Colombian Air Force was deployed to locate the aircraft and recover the bodies, according to NDTV.
Local parliamentarian Wilmer Carrillo expressed shock over the tragedy, 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 served in Colombia’s Chamber of Deputies, while Salcedo was a candidate in the upcoming elections.
The crash is the latest in a series of fatal aviation accidents 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.
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