Plane crashes on anti-coca mission in Colombia; U.S. pilot killed

[Judi Lynn]

Plane crashes on anti-coca mission in Colombia; U.S. pilot killed
Reuters
8:06 p.m. EDT, September 27, 2013

BOGOTA (Reuters) - An American pilot was killed and a U.S. co-pilot seriously injured on Friday when their plane crashed while on a mission to eradicate coca plants in southern Colombia, police said.

Spraying of coca plants to combat the drugs trade has been intensified in Colombia since 2000 with support from the United States, which has provided billions of dollars to help Colombia fight guerrillas who are funded partly by revenue from cocaine.

"Preliminary information we have is that it was a mechanical failure. An American piloting the plane was killed and the one accompanying him was injured," a police source told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

The police source said the two were contractors working for companies hired by the Colombian government to fumigate coca crops. Most of those companies are from the United States, but it was not immediately clear who employed the pilots.

More:
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/nationworld/sns-rt-us-pilot-20130927,0,3842623.story

[frylock]

1. another casualty to the war on drugs

[Judi Lynn]

2. American fumigation plane pilot killed in south Colombia crash

American fumigation plane pilot killed in south Colombia crash
posted by Adriaan Alsema
Sep 27, 2013

US fumigation airplane pilot has been killed and his co-pilot injured in a crash the south of Colombia, the US embassy in Bogota said Friday.
” The United embassy regrets to inform about the death of an American pilot in a sinister accident on [Friday] September 27 on Colombian territory,” Colombian media cited an embassy press release.

The embassy reportedly said the Air Tractor AT-802 airplane was on a fumigation mission on the request of the Colombian national police.
“Preliminary information we have is that it was a mechanical failure,” a police source told Reuters.
The embassy said to not reveal the name of the pilot out of respect for his family.

Local media reported that the airplane had taken off from the Larandia airport in the south of the Caqueta department and crashed in the municipality of Montañita.

The US military is in Colombia as part of Plan Colombia, a bilateral pact to combat coca cultivation, drug trafficking and leftist rebels that was kicked off in 2001. Since then, Washington spent $8 billion in Colombia after which coca cultivation in the South American country dropped.

http://colombiareports.co/american-fumigation-plane-pilot-killed-south-colombia-crash/

(Short article, no more at link.)