A cargo plane carrying money crashed Friday near Bolivia’s capital, damaging a few dozen vehicles on highway, scattering bills on the bottom and leaving a minimum of 15 people dead and others injured, an official said.
Defense Minister Marcelo Salinas said the Hercules C-130 plane was transporting newly printed Bolivian currency when it “landed and veered off the runway” at an airport in El Alto, a city adjoining to the capital of La Paz, before ending up in a close-by field. Firefighters managed to place out the flames that engulfed the aircraft.
Fire chief Pavel Tovar said a minimum of 15 people died but he didn’t make clear if the dead were within the plane or within the cars on the nearby highway.
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Salinas didn’t specify how many individuals had been killed within the crash and said the cause was being investigated.
Bolivian Air Force Gen. Sergio Lora said two of the plane’s six crew members had not been found as of late Friday, adding that the aircraft was arriving from the eastern city of Santa Cruz.
Images on social media showed debris from the aircraft, destroyed cars and bodies scattered on the road. In keeping with Tovar, a minimum of 15 vehicles were damaged.
The plane, belonging to the Bolivian air force, was transporting money to La Paz and pictures on social media showed people rushing to gather the bills scattered on the crash site, while police in riot gear tried to disperse them.
Tovar said the lots of of individuals attempting to collect the spilled bills were hindering rescue efforts.
Greater than 500 soldiers and 100 cops took control of the world to disperse the mob, in accordance with official reports. Police and military personnel burned the money boxes within the presence of Central Bank President David Espinoza, who said the bills “don’t have any legal value because they never entered circulation,” without clarifying what that meant.
Espinoza didn’t specify the amount of cash being transported but he said the banknotes had arrived in Santa Cruz from abroad.
Authorities temporarily suspended all flights to and from the terminal.
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