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BOGOTA, June 27 (Xinhua) -- The bodies of all the 17 people aboard a military helicopter that crashed in the municipality of Pensilvania in the central Caldas Department had been found, the army's commander said on Monday.
While expressing his regret over the accident, which happened on Sunday, the commander of Colombia's Army, General Alberto Jose Mejia said that after the crash, the aircraft broke into several pieces after hitting a mountain.
Mejia said initial investigations showed that the accident happened due to a lack of visibility caused by poor weather conditions.
People on board the National Army's MI-17 helicopter were on their way to the Tolemaida military base from the department of Choco where they had successfully carried out a military operation against the guerrilla group National Liberation Army (ELN), said the general.
The last contact with the helicopter was at 2 p.m. local time (1900 GMT) on Sunday when they were 35 miles north of Mariquita in the central-western department of Tolima.
Shortly after the accident was announced, there were already teams from the Combat Rescue Company (C-SAR) looking for the aircraft and victims.
Troops from Ayacucho's No. 22 Infantry Battalion were also involved in searching for the bodies with the help of planes as well as members of the police, civil defence, firefighters, Red Cross and volunteers from Pensilvania that had joined together in the search.
Before the deaths were confirmed, Colombia's President Juan Manuel Santos, speaking from the Tolemaida military base, lamented the accident and said it did not seem the news about the people on board would be good.
"I deeply regret this accident. We are going to investigate to find out what happened. In this area, which passes the mountain range, there are always clouds. It is close to the municipality of Pensilvania, in Caldas, and we are awaiting the results of the investigation to see what really happened," said Santos.
Santos said the five crewmen and 12 members of "our armed forces were carrying out a very important task."
"They were in Uraba, in (the department of) Choco, carrying out a search. Many of those that were in the helicopter were experts in unpiloted planes. Also, others had been supporting the operations against the ELN," added the president.
Santos expressed his solidarity with the families of the victims and offered a minute of silence for the members of the armed forces that have lost their lives in the line of duty during the armed conflict in the South American country.
