Venezuela investigating military plane crash near Colombia border

The Venezuelan government is investigating the crash of a military Sukhoi-30 plane along the Colombian border in the northwest of the country, the Minister of Defense, Vladimir Padrino Lopez, announced on Friday.

Padrino Lopez indicated that the investigation is seeking to understand what caused the crash on the night of Sept. 17 as the plane pursued another aircraft that had allegedly illegally crossed over into Venezuelan airspace.

In a televised address, the minister said that the status of the two pilots, Captain Ronald Ramirez and Captain Jackson Garcia, is still unknown, but that they had activated the airplane's distress signal.

He added the zone around where the plane fell is used by drug cartels as a distribution area for drugs that are sent to Central America and the Caribbean.

"We send our best wishes and our solidarity to our brothers...of the Bolivarian Air Force and to the families of the pilots. We have activated a ground and air search in the area charged with verifying the facts and localizing the pilots," explained Padrino Lopez.

The minister also denied claims made by Colombian authorities that suspected Venezuelan military aircraft had encroached on their airspace, adding that he had extensive proof that these accusations were false, including details about the flight paths and coordinates of all Venezuelan military planes.

"We have no hostile intention against Colombia...we stand ready to sit down with them...to prove that none of our planes has left Venezuelan airspace," he said. 

Source: XINHUA