20 Die in Crash of Colombian Plane; 1 Man Survives

BOGOTA, Colombia — A domestic airliner crashed and burst into flames in southwestern Colombia on Saturday, and authorities said all but one of the 21 people on board were killed.

Civil Aeronautics officials said the twin-engine plane, belonging to the state-owned Satena airlines, plowed into a mountainside while en route from Villavicencio, capital of the department of Meta, to the La Macarena tourist resort, about 105 miles southwest of Bogota, the capital.

“It apparently crashed because of bad weather,” one of the officials said, adding that the pilot of the Spanish-made C-212 aircraft had reported poor visibility due to rain and fog in the jungle-covered area shortly before the crash.

One passenger, Pedro Gaitan, survived, but he lost his 9-year-old son in the crash. Gaitan was flown to a military hospital in Bogota where he was listed in critical condition.

Civil Aeronautics officials said there had been 17 passengers and four crew members aboard.

All of the victims, who included a provincial government planning official from Villavicencio, were believed to be Colombian nationals, according to Civil Aeronautics spokesmen. The plane’s co-pilot was identified as an Air Force lieutenant.

The last major air crash in Colombia occurred in January, when 51 people were killed in the crash of a DC-9 en route from Bogota to the Caribbean resort city of Cartagena.