A Sikorsky UH-60L Black Hawk helicopter of the Colombian Army crashed in a jungle area in southeastern Colombia with 17 military personnel on board. Eleven crew members were killed and six were recovered.
On the morning of July 21, 2020, the helicopter registered EJC2176 was reported missing in the jungle near San José del Guaviare, southeastern Colombia. Onboard were 17 service members of the Military Forces of Colombia (FFMM). The aircraft was participating in a guerilla operation against the so-called FARC dissidents.
The wreckage was eventually found on a stretch of the Inírida River. Six soldiers were rescued, while the bodies of nine were recovered. The injured service members were transported to the Bogotá Military Hospital.
As for the two soldiers that were missing, the commander of the FFMM General Luis Fernando Navarro said there was little hope for their survival. Rescuers believed that their bodies were trapped under the submerged helicopter. “We have the helicopter located, controlled and secured with cables from the trees on the riverbank,” Navaro told local news. Late on July 22, 2020, the FFMM confirmed that the two remaining bodies were found.
A commission from the Air Assault Aviation Division was sent to investigate the crash and to determine if it was shot down or not by insurgents. Very active in the area where the helicopter crashed, the FARC dissidents are a rebel group that refused the peace agreement signed between the FARC and the Colombian government in 2016.
