Fifteen police have been killed in Colombia as a helicopter taking part in an anti-drug trafficking operation crashed in a remote jungle-covered region.
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He said the other two uniformed personnel were in critical condition and taken to a nearby hospital to be treated for serious burns. The incident is under investigation, he said.
The authorities attributed the crash to bad weather. Within the recording, an unidentified individual remarks that the downed plane appeared to have been shot at from the bottom and probably was hit by a do-it-yourself mortar shell typically utilized by rebels.
“For the moment, the most likely theory is that the helicopter crashed into the hillside at a speed of 120 knots, which is 180 kilometers per hour, possibly because of low clouds”. Colombian officials have intensified the hunt for Otoniel with the support of the US Drug Enforcement Administration since February.
The policemen aboard were part of a special operation to tackle members of drug smuggling gangs operating in the area, including the one of the leaders of notorious “Usaga Clan” gang, according to BBC.
But the country’s defence minister said two other helicopters also participating in the mission did not detect any gunfire.
The crash followed the death of 11 air force personnel whose CASA-235 airplane crashed last week near the Caribbean coast in an accident that was attributed to bad weather.
“Uribe is aware of that I do not disguise info”, Villegas stated at a information convention in Bogota.
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The former president, a conservative hardliner, is a fierce opponent of the peace talks that the government has held for more than two years with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia.
