No survivors: Fifteen people killed in plane crash in Colombia

Fifteen people, 13 passengers and two crew members, died in a plane crash that disappeared from radar in Colombia early yesterday, near the border with Venezuela, aviation authorities said. They added that there were no "survivors", the agencies reported.

"Satena", Colombia's state-owned airline, said that authorities in Curacao, northeastern Colombia, had notified authorities where the plane had crashed and that a team had been sent to "assess the condition of the passengers".

The Ministry of Transport in Bogota later confirmed that "when the plane was found, the teams unfortunately determined that there were no survivors".

It was previously reported that a "Beechcraft 1900" The private company "Cearca", operating a flight for the state-owned airline "Satena", took off from the northern border city of Cúcuta but disappeared from radar screens shortly before its scheduled landing in the city of Ocana. The entire trip was supposed to last about half an hour.

Authorities said emergency procedures had been activated and a search was underway. Contact with the plane was lost over a mountainous area in the department of Norte de Santander, at an altitude of between 1,100 and 1,300 meters, according to the real-time flight tracking website "Flytradar 24".

"Cearca" has so far declined to comment.

According to "Satena" The plane lost contact a few minutes after takeoff.

According to Wilmer Carrillo, a member of the Norte de Santander regional assembly, the plane was carrying a national deputy and a lawyer for the Specialized Court for Peace, created after the 2016 peace agreement with former guerrillas from the "Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia" (FARC) group.

"We received information about the plane crash, which has raised concerns in our country," Carrillo wrote in Ex.

The area over which contact with the plane was lost is covered in coca, the raw material from which cocaine is made, and is a stronghold of illegal armed groups such as the FARC and the "National Liberation Army" (ELN).

According to local newspaper "Tiempo", the plane was carrying Diogenes Quintero, a congressman, and Carlos Salcedo, a candidate for congressional office in the upcoming March elections. People close to Quintero said they had not been in contact with the politician and his associate Natalia Acosta Salcedo since the plane took off. "We pray for our friends", the statement said.

"Satena" confirmed that Quintero, who represents victims of the internal armed conflict in the region, was on the plane.

The causes of the crash remain unknown.

Images of the plane's fuselage scattered in a dense area of vegetation were shared on social media.