Bogotá , 29 January (H.S.): A devastating aviation disaster unfolded on Wednesday near Colombia's volatile border with Venezuela, where a state-operated aircraft plummeted into rugged terrain, claiming the lives of all 15 souls aboard, including prominent lawmaker Diogenes Quintero and legislative hopeful Carlos Salcedo.

The Beechcraft 1900D twin-engine turboprop, managed by Colombia's Satena airline, had departed from the frontier city of Cúcuta earlier that day, bound for the nearby municipality of Ocaña, with an anticipated arrival around noon local time (1700 GMT). Tragedy struck mere moments before touchdown, as the plane abruptly lost radar and radio contact with air traffic control, prompting an immediate mobilization of Colombia's Air Force for a grueling search-and-recovery operation amid the region's notoriously treacherous mountainous landscape and erratic weather patterns.

Among the 13 passengers and two crew members perished Diogenes Quintero, a serving member of Colombia's Chamber of Deputies, and Carlos Salcedo, a candidate eyeing a seat in forthcoming elections; both were accompanied by their respective teams on what was presumed to be an official itinerary.

Fellow parliamentarian Wilmer Carrillo conveyed profound dismay, stating, We have received with concern the information about the air accident... where my colleague Diogenes Quintero, Carlos Salcedo and their teams were traveling, underscoring the profound shock rippling through legislative circles.

The crash site's proximity to swaths dominated by the National Liberation Army (ELN)—Colombia's most formidable guerrilla faction—has ignited preliminary speculation about potential complicating factors, though authorities have yet to attribute causation beyond the unforgiving topography and meteorological volatility endemic to Norte de Santander province.

Colombia's civil aeronautics authority issued a somber confirmation via an AFP briefing: There are no survivors, extinguishing all hopes of miraculous reprieve as recovery teams navigated perilous elevations to retrieve the remains.

This harrowing incident evokes haunting parallels to Colombia's fraught aviation annals, where ELN-controlled enclaves and abrupt climatic shifts have long imperiled air travel; the government's aerial response, now intensified, aims to repatriate the victims while investigators probe black box data for mechanical anomalies, pilot error, or environmental precipitants.

As families grapple with unimaginable loss and political voids loom in Bogotá, the nation confronts yet another stark reminder of aerial perils in its restive borderlands.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar