At least nine soldiers were dead and six wounded after a military helicopter crashed on Tuesday in the Colombian southeast during an operation against guerrillas, according to the country’s army.
Taking to Twitter, a military spokesperson said, “Unfortunately, we have found the bodies of nine of our personnel”.
The Blackhawk helicopter was carrying 17 military personnel when it went down. The armed forces high command did not reveal whether it was shot down or an accident.
Authorities found the helicopter in a stretch of the river Inirida in Guaviare state, an area where dissident former Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrillas are active.
FARC rebels laid down their arms in a historic 2016 peace deal that ended a half century of conflict and turned the guerrillas into a communist political party.
President Ivan Duque took to twitter and said, “Today we have immense pain. The @FuerzasMilCol confirmed the death of 9 of the 11 missing military personnel and 6 wounded in the accident of the helicopter that was fulfilling operational functions. We accompany families at this time and recognize the heroism of these men”.
There are some 2,300 dissident guerrilla fighters, according to military intelligence estimates, who survive thanks to drug trafficking, illegal mining and an extense support network.
The army’s air assault division said in a statement it was “on site beginning the corresponding investigations to determine the circumstances regarding the time, manner and place that the events occurred.”
(With inputs from agency)