Twelve people, including a mayor and her family, were killed in a plane crash in Colombia's Meta province on Saturday. Engine failure is suspected to be the cause of the crash though the civil aviation agency has neither confirmed nor denied it.
According to reports, the aircraft, a Douglas DC-3, owned by Laser Aereo airlines, was en route from the southern city of San Jose del Guaviare to central Villavicencio, when it crashed midway. Fire department officials said the plane then caught fire.
The Special Administrative Unit of Civil Aeronautics said that the crash occurred after the aircraft made a distress call at 10.40 am local time. The civil aviation agency confirmed that there were no survivors. Doris Villegas, the mayor of the small town Taraira, and her husband and daughter were among the victims.
Colombian President Ivan Duque expressed his solidarity with the families of the victims on Twitter.
(With inputs from agencies)
