Boeing 727 Cargo Plane Crashes in Colombia, Killing Five

A Boeing 727 cargo airplane operated by Colombian carrier Aerosucre crashed Tuesday evening while attempting to gain altitude following takeoff from German Olano Airport in Puerto Carreno, killing five of the six crewmembers. Officials with Colombia's Aeronáutica Civil aviation authority confirmed that the airplane, registered as HK-4544, crashed at 5:23 p.m. local time, three minutes after departing for the capital Bogota.

Video footage from the scene appears to show the three-engined aircraft barely clearing the airport’s perimeter fence and crossing a dirt road before bursting into flames in an area that an Aeronáutica Civil statement reported lay some 10 miles from the airport.