Sixteen policemen died on Tuesday
when a helicopter likely crashed into the side of a mountain in a wooded
region of northwestern Colombia, Defense Minister Luis Carlos Villegas
said.
A Colombian military helicopter overflies a base in La Macarena, Meta department, on October 30, 2014.
The U.S.-made UH-60 Black Hawk may have
crashed because of bad weather or a mechanical failure while taking part
in a counter-narcotics operation in the department of Antioquia some
450 km northeast (280 miles) of the capital, Bogota. The incident is
under investigation, he said.
"For now the most probable hypothesis is
that the helicopter crashed against the side of the mountain, possibly
due to low cloud cover," Villegas told reporters in Bogota.
The accident came four days after 11
soldiers died when a Spanish-made CASA C-235 suffered motor failure and
crashed in the northeast of the country.
The policemen killed on Tuesday were
taking part in a crackdown on a criminal gang of former right-wing
paramilitaries known as Clan Usuga.
The head of the group, Dario Antonio
Usuga, alias "Otoniel," leads 2,000 men. The United States is offering a
reward of up to $5 million for information leading to his capture.
"There were three helicopters in the
operation, and the other two didn't hear any shots fired apart from
those from the three helicopters (in the operation)," Villegas said.
Colombia's security forces have dozens
of Black Hawk helicopters that are used in the government's offensive
against leftist guerrillas, criminal gangs and drug traffickers.
Source: Reuters