BOGOTA: Seventeen Colombian soldiers died when their Russian-made Mi-17 helicopter crashed in a central mountainous area of the Andean country on Sunday.

The accident in the Caldas province, some 180 kilometres from Bogota, the capital, occurred when the helicopter was travelling from the jungle province of Choco to the Tolemaida military base, the army said.

“The first hypothesis suggests the accident could be related to bad weather in the area,” it said in a statement.

In August last year, 16 police officers died after a mechanical failure caused their US-made UH-60 Black Hawk to crash during an anti-drug operation in Colombia’s north-east.

Published in Dawn, June 28th, 2016