Rescue workers in Colombia are searching for four people who are missing after a military plane crashed in the south of the country.
Sixty-six members of the Colombian security forces were killed on Monday, when the Hercules C-130 transport plane came down shortly after take-off near Colombia's border with Peru.
Locals were first to the scene, pulling out dozens of injured survivors from the burning wreckage and ferrying them to hospitals on the back of their motorbikes.
An investigation is under way to determine the cause of the accident.
A total of 128 people were on board the transport plane, which was headed from the town of Puerto Leguízamo to Puerto Asís.
In a series of posts on social media, Colombian President Gustavo Petro appeared to blame antiquated military hardware for the accident. Talking about the victims, but without mentioning the Hercules plane directly, he wrote: This piece of scrap metal was bought in 2020 and came down, let's ask why.
In an earlier post, he blamed bureaucratic problems for holding up his plans to modernise the armed forces' equipment and their aircraft.
I will allow no further delays, the lives of our young people are at stake, he wrote.
Mobile phone footage shared on social media showed the plane losing height shortly after take-off, followed by a large plume of smoke rising from the crash site and the sound of explosions.
Colombia's defence minister stated that the sounds were caused by ammunition on board igniting in the flames, and assured that there was no indication of an attack from any armed groups active in the Putumayo region.
A local farmer reported hearing a loud bang prior to the crash and described seeing the plane descend through trees near his home. Commanders confirmed that 58 army personnel, six members of the air force, and two police officers were among the victims.
This incident marks the second disaster involving a Hercules C-130 in two months, with a separate crash in Bolivia resulting in 24 fatalities.
