All 15 people on board a small passenger aircraft have died after the aircraft crashed in Colombia. A Satena Airline plane vanished on Wednesday afternoon after it lost communications with air traffic control in the North Santander, northern Colombia. The HK4709 flight was travelling from Cucuta to Ocaña on Wednesday with 15 people on board, including 13 passengers and two crew members. 

Air traffic control lost communication with the aircraft shortly before 12pm local time (5pm GMT). The small aircraft was scheduled to land only a few minutes later at Aguas Claras Airport in Ocaña, the second-largest populated area in the North Santander department.  

Alarm was raised over the small aircraft, which is believed to have the capacity of carrying 19 passengers, as it failed to reach its destination. 

The last location recorded by radar placed the aircraft in an area between the municipalities of Hacarí and La Playa de Belén, in the Catatumbo region, Colombian news outlet El Heraldo reports.  

Satena confirmed that the plane had taken off at 11.42am and was scheduled to land at 12.05, but the last contact with the aircraft was at 11.54am, adding “all available resources” were deployed to find the aircraft. 

In a statement issued later on Wednesday night, government-owned Satena confirmed on X the aircraft had “suffered a fatal accident”, killing all those on board. 

It also read: “We extend our most sincere condolences with profound sorrow and our deepest solidarity to the families of our passengers and crew who lost their lives in the accident. We will also make all our resources available for humanitarian assistance to their families and to clarify what happened.”

The cause of the plane crash was not immediately clear.  

The government also aided the search, having set up a Power Management Unit (PMU). 

Maria Fernanda Rojas, Colombia’s minister of transport, wrote on X before the crash was confirmed: “The Accident Investigation Directorate of @AerocivilCol reports that it is gathering information regarding the loss of communication from aircraft HK4709, which was flying the Cucuta-Ocaña route with 13 passengers and 2 crew members. The corresponding protocols have been activated, and we have already initiated PMU.” 

Among the passengers on the plane were Diógenes Quintero, a member of Colombia‘s House of Representatives, and congressional candidate Carlos Salcedo Salaza, a passenger list released by the airline showed.