\n<\/p>\n
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) \u2014 A small plane crashed Wednesday in a rural area of Norte de Santander province in northeast Colombia, killing all 15 people on board including a member of congress, authorities said.<\/p>\n
Satena, the state-owned airline that operated the flight, said local officials in the community of Curasica notified authorities about where the plane had gone down and a rescue team was deployed to \u201cassess the condition of the passengers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Colombia’s Transportation Ministry later released a statement saying that \u201conce the aircraft was located on site, authorities regrettably confirmed that there were no survivors.\u201d<\/p>\n
The aircraft, which has a registration number of HK4709, took off at 11:42 a.m. local time from the airport in C\u00facuta, the department\u2019s capital, bound for Oca\u00f1a, a municipality surrounded by mountains, on a flight that typically lasts about 40 minutes.<\/p>\n
The aircraft\u2019s final contact with air traffic control came minutes after takeoff, according to a statement released by Satena.<\/p>\n
Officials did not provide a cause for the crash, but said there would be an investigation.<\/p>\n
The small plane was carrying two crew members and 13 passengers, including Di\u00f3genes Quintero, 36, a member of the House of Representatives for Catatumbo, the airline said.<\/p>\n
Quintero was a renowned human rights defender in the troubled border region with Venezuela<\/a>, where he was from and where the accident occurred.<\/p>\n A lawyer by profession, he was elected in 2022 as one of 16 representatives in the lower chamber to represent the more than 9 million victims of Colombia’s decades-long armed conflict<\/a>. The seats were created as part of a landmark 2016 peace agreement between the Colombian government and the country’s largest guerrilla group known as the FARC.<\/p>\n His party, the U Party, expressed their remorse for his death and said he was \u201ca leader committed to his region, with a firm vocation for service.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n