To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to an internet
browser that
supports HTML5
video
A cargo plane carrying wads of money crashed moments after landing – sparking chaos as people flocked to the scene to attempt to cram their pockets with scattered banknotes.
The Hercules C-130 aircraft was ferrying newly printed Bolivian currency from the country’s central bank when it ‘landed and veered off the runway’ at an airport near capital La Paz.
Police said the death toll has now risen to twenty, while greater than a dozen other people were injured.
Footage posted on social media showed bodies among the many debris strewn across the highway where the plane finally got here to a halt.
Nevertheless it also captured scores of individuals rushing there to choose up the cash that had billowed out when it crashed.
Some clips show authorities firing water and tear gas to fend off the mob of scavengers.
Greater than 500 soldiers and 100 cops were drafted in, based on 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.
The El Alto International Airport was closed temporarily following the crash, national airline Boliviana de Aviacion said in an announcement, adding the aircraft involved within the accident didn’t belong to its fleet.
Video broadcast on local media showed the aircraft was severely damaged, as were numerous vehicles along the avenue where the crash took place.
Get in contact with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.