Amman, March 23 (Petra) – A Colombian military plane crashed shortly after takeoff in the southern Amazon region on Monday, killing 80 soldiers.

A military source told AFP that the Hercules aircraft, carrying members of two battalions, went down while departing from Puerto Leguízamo, near Colombia's southern border with Ecuador.

Colombian Defence Minister Pedro Sánchez confirmed on X that the Lockheed Martin C-130 Hercules was transporting army personnel when the accident occurred in the remote Amazon region near the border with Peru.

He described the crash as "a very painful event for the country." //Petra// AK