At least 66 people have been confirmed dead after a Colombian Air Force transport plane crashed shortly after takeoff from the remote town of Puerto Leguizamo, near the country’s southern border with Ecuador and Peru.

The C-130 Hercules, a four‑engine turboprop widely used by militaries around the world, was carrying 125 soldiers and crew on a routine flight to an Amazon outpost when it went down, scattering burning wreckage across dense jungle. Survivors were pulled from the twisted fuselage as flames and thick black smoke rose above the tree line.

Military officials said the dead include 58 soldiers, six air force personnel and two police officers. Dozens more were injured, many with severe burns and fractures, and were airlifted to hospitals in Putumayo department and other regions as helicopters and riverboats joined the rescue effort.

The death toll climbed rapidly through the day. Local authorities initially reported 33 fatalities before the armed forces issued an updated figure, warning that the number could still rise as rescuers reach more isolated sections of the crash site.

General Carlos Fernando Silva Rueda, speaking from an air base in southern Colombia, confirmed that 114 troops and 11 crew members were on board. The aircraft, tail number FAC 1016, had just lifted off from Puerto Leguizamo’s short runway when witnesses heard a loud explosion.

“I felt an explosion in the air and, when I looked up, the plane was flying close to the house on my plot,” said farmer Noe Mota, who lives near the airfield. Moments later, the Hercules disappeared behind the tree line and a column of smoke rose from the forest.

Images from the scene showed civilians and soldiers clambering over the shattered tail section as firefighters battled flames amid scattered equipment and personal belongings. The remote location and limited airport infrastructure have complicated the recovery of bodies and the evacuation of the injured, regional governor Jhon Gabriel Molina said.

Defence Minister Pedro Sanchez expressed “deep sorrow” and announced a high-level investigation into the cause of the crash, cautioning that it was too early to draw conclusions. President Gustavo Petro called it a “horrific accident” and renewed calls to modernise Colombia’s aging military fleet, though he stopped short of linking the tragedy directly to the aircraft’s condition.

The border region where the plane went down has seen intense military operations against drug-trafficking cartels and armed groups, making the Hercules a vital lifeline for troops deployed in some of Colombia’s most inaccessible terrain.