Plane carrying 15, including two politicians, crashes in Colombia's Catatumbo

On Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026, a SATENA aircraft carrying 15 people, including two local politicians, crashed in a restive region along Colombia’s border with Venezuela, and authorities said there were no survivors, the airline said. The aircraft was a Beechcraft 1900 turboprop traveling between Cúcuta and Ocaña.

Ocaña is in the Catatumbo region, a mountainous zone where the Colombian government has been ratcheting up a conflict with the National Liberation Army, or ELN, the report said. SATENA said the plane last made contact with air-traffic control at 11:54 a.m. local time, about 11 minutes before its scheduled landing in Ocaña.

William Villamizar, the governor of Norte de Santander, told a local news channel that no one survived the crash. The airline said the aircraft was carrying 13 passengers and two crew members. The list of passengers released by SATENA included two local politicians, Diógenes Quintero and Carlos Salcedo, who were running for congressional office; Mr.

Quintero’s campaign also posted news of his death on social media. SATENA is Colombia’s state-owned airline and is described in the report as generally considered safe; the last crash that resulted in fatalities was more than 35 years ago. The report also noted that many of the airline’s pilots are former members of the military and that its fleet of propeller planes connects remote regions to urban centers.

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