Colombian Army Helicopter Crash Kills 9 Soldiers

A Colombian army helicopter, carrying supplies for the soldiers, crashed Monday in a rural area in the northern part of the country. The incident led to the death of nine soldiers who were on board, as per the Colombian military.

The official X (formerly known as Twitter) handle of the Colombian military shared a post, featuring the photos and names of those nine soldiers.

"Today, with deep pain, we mourn the death of the crew of MI17 EJC3395 and its occupants, in a plane accident that occurred in the municipality of Arenal, in the south of Bolívar," the official handle wrote in Spanish (translated by Google). "A C-SAR group of rescue equipment moved to the scene of the events."

Alongside the post, the military also shared names in the same thread, "In our memory will remain the memory of the crew made up of the pilot in command, Lieutenant Colonel Jesús Carvajal; the pilot, Major Edward Espinosa, Vice First Sergeant Diego Ramírez, Second Sergeant Michael Villanueva and First Corporal Cristian Ordóñez."

"As well as Third Corporal Jhon Arlen Olea Palmera and the professional soldiers Sman Sanabria Guerrero, Jesús Montalvo Arroyo and Yeisson Mendoza Méndez. Our heartfelt condolences to the families, friends and colleagues of the deceased soldiers."

President of Colombia Gustavo Petro also took to social media to mourn soldiers' deaths.

"I mourn the death of the nine members of the army helicopter flight that crashed to the ground and that was supplying troops to the south of Bolívar in operations against the Gulf Clan," he wrote.

According to the military, the helicopter crashed around 1:50 pm local time and it was an MI-17 Russian-built chopper used to transport supplies and troops, AP News reported.

No details on the reason behind the crash have been disclosed yet by the officials.

Last week, two Malaysian navy helicopters crashed to the ground after colliding with each other in midair, killing 10 crew members.