• Crash occurs near Puerto Leguizamo, close to Ecuador border.
• Official say wreckage scattered across jungle, with fire and smoke seen.
• It’s second C-130 Hercules crash in South America within month.

BOGOTA: A Colombian military plane carrying 125 troops and crew crashed on take-off Monday, with as many as 80 people aboard feared dead.

The Hercules aircraft went down shortly after departure from Puerto Leguizamo, near the southern border with Ecuador, strewing burning wreckage on the jungle floor.

The troubled border area has been the scene of heavy military activity in recent weeks, as the Colombian and Ecuadorian militaries try to tackle drug-running cartels and militias.

The toll remained unclear.

Officials said that as many as 48 survivors had been found. A military source told AFP that 80 people may have been killed, although there was no official toll.

Images from the scene showed civilians clambering around the broken tail of the aircraft, marked FAC 1016, as smoke and flames billowed above the trees.

Defence Minister Pedro Sanchez expressed “deep sorrow” over the disaster.

“Military units are already at the scene,” Sanchez posted on social media, adding that “the number of victims and the causes of the crash have not yet been confirmed.”

“It is a deeply painful event for the country. May our prayers bring some measure of comfort,” said Sanchez.

General Carlos Fernando Silva Rueda said that 114 troops were aboard and 11 crew.

They had been travelling between Puerto Leguizamo and another Amazon outpost nearby.

The crash is the second by a C-130 Hercules aircraft in South America in under a month.

A Bolivian military cargo plane carrying banknotes crashed while landing near La Paz on February 27, leaving at least 24 people dead.

The Hercules is a four-engine turboprop plane built by Lockheed Martin.

Renowned for its ability to operate from makeshift airstrips, it is widely used by militaries around the world and can carry everything from troops to vehicles.

• Israel launches new wave of attacks on Tehran.
• Iran vows to strike Gulf infrastructure if US attacks power grid.
• Tehran says strait open to all but “enemies”.

TEL AVIV/JERUSALEM/WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said on Monday he had given orders to postpone any military strikes against Iranian power plants for five days, hours ahead of a deadline that threatened further escalation in the conflict now in its fourth week.

Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform that the US and Iran had had “VERY GOOD AND PRODUCTIVE” conversations over the past two days about a “COMPLETE AND TOTAL RESOLUTION OF HOSTILITIES IN THE MIDDLE EAST”.

In his message, written entirely in capital letters, he said he had instructed the defense department to postpone the strikes pending the outcome of the talks.

However, Iran’s Fars news agency said after Trump’s post that there was no direct communication with the US or through intermediaries.

Citing an unnamed source, Fars said Trump had retreated after hearing that Iran would respond by attacking all power plants in the region.

A source briefed on Israel’s war plans said Washington had kept it informed of its talks with Tehran, and that Israel was likely to follow Washington in suspending any targeting of Iranian power plants and energy infrastructure.

The prime minister’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on US talks with Iran or Washington’s decision to hold off on striking some Iranian targets.

Oil drops, stocks recover on Trump comments

Trump’s comments briefly sent the price of the Brent crude oil benchmark LCOc1 down around 13% to back below $100 a barrel. By 1155 GMT, however, it was back around $105.

Global markets also recovered sharply, with US stock futures reversing losses to gain more than 2%.

On Saturday, Trump had warned that Iranian power plants would be destroyed if Tehran failed to “fully open” the Strait of Hormuz to all shipping within 48 hours. Trump set a deadline of around 7:44pm EDT (2344 GMT) on Monday.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards on Monday threatened retaliation, saying they would attack Israel’s power plants and those supplying US bases across the Gulf region if Trump followed through with his threat.

More than 2,000 people have been killed in the war the US and Israel launched on February 28, which has upended markets, driven up fuel costs, accelerated global inflation fears and convulsed the Western defence alliance.

However, the threat of strikes on Gulf electricity grids raised fears of mass disruption to desalination for drinking water, and further rattled oil markets.

While attacks on electricity could hurt Iran, they could be catastrophic for its Gulf neighbours, which consume around five times as much power per capita.

Electricity makes their gleaming desert cities habitable, in part by powering the desalination plants that produce 100% of the water consumed in Bahrain and Qatar. Such plants use seawater to meet more than 80% of drinking water needs in the United Arab Emirates, and 50% of the water supply in Saudi Arabia.

Iran has effectively closed the key Strait of Hormuz, through which about a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas flows.

• NBC reports both pilots killed.
• LaGuardia airport closed until 2pm ET on Monday, FAA says.
• Photos taken after accident show damage to plane’s nose.

NEW YORK: The pilot and co-pilot of an Air Canada Express regional jet were killed after it collided with a fire truck while landing at New York’s LaGuardia airport late on Sunday, in an incident that closed the airport, authorities and US media said.

NBC News, which reported the deaths, said dozens others were injured in the incident.

The news channel said that the fire truck was manned by police officers, citing sources. It had earlier said ⁠a sergeant and an officer had broken limbs and were in stable condition at a hospital.

The Air Canada Express CRJ-900 plane, operated by its partner Jazz Aviation, was carrying 72 passengers and four crew members from Montreal, based on a preliminary passenger list that remained subject to confirmation. Jazz is owned by Chorus Aviation.

The aircraft struck the fire vehicle at a speed of about 24 miles per hour (39 kph), said flight tracking website Flightradar24, which last recorded data at 11:37pm ET (0337 GMT).

Photos taken by Reuters after the accident showed visible damage to the nose of the plane, which was tilted upward.

Authorities and emergency agencies did not offer any ⁠immediate comments on deaths or injuries.

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said the airport was expected to remain shut until 2pm ET on Monday (1800 GMT). Flightradar24 said 18 flights had been diverted to other airports, mostly in the New York area, or returned to their point of origin.

Air Canada referred Reuters to Jazz’s statement and said it was aware of ⁠the incident. The National Transportation Safety Board and the FAA did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said the firefighting vehicle was responding to a separate incident when it was struck ⁠by the aircraft at the airport’s Runway 4.

New York City’s emergency notification system said people could expect cancellations, road closures, traffic delays and emergency personnel near the airport.

LaGuardia served over 30 million annual passengers in 2025, ⁠according to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and a wide range of US airlines operate at the airport.