A Venezuelan government plane made an emergency landing at the airport in the Colombian border city of Cúcuta on Friday, apparently due to a confusion over the destination runway, official sources said.
The aircraft is a Cessna 550 Citation II, with Venezuelan registration YV3226, which landed this morning at the Camilo Daza international airport in Cúcuta, the main city on the border between the two countries.
“The information we have about the landing of the Venezuelan plane in Cúcuta is that it is an emergency. We are awaiting a report from the Civil Aeronautics, which is the competent authority for the case,” Colombian President Gustavo Petro stated on his X account.
According to the flight tracking website FlightAware, the plane with registration number YV3226 took off this morning from Maiquetía International Airport in Caracas and landed one hour and 20 minutes later at Camilo Daza Airport in Cúcuta.
The reason for the flight and the number of people on board are still unknown, but Colombian media reports say the aircraft was carrying five people, two of them armed soldiers.
The Civil Aeronautics Authority (Aerocivil) issued a statement stating: “the aircraft YV3226 has the proper authorization from the Colombian civil aviation authority” in accordance with the provisions of the Chicago Convention, which “recognizes the right to make technical stops in Colombian territory, as well as the use of aerodromes in emergency situations.”
The flight was apparently headed to the neighbouring Venezuelan border town of San Antonio del Táchira, but the crew had to land in Cúcuta.
According to Aerocivil, in this case the emergency landing was “derived from a circumstance of confusion between nearby runways” which confirms the version that the plane was heading to San Antonio del Táchira, a city separated from Cúcuta only by the Táchira River.
Aerocivil added that permission was given to land because the incident “corresponds to an aircraft that was in a dangerous situation.”
“In consideration of the international law that the YV3226 aircraft is in this condition, and the information gathered on the operational incident, the takeoff of said aircraft is authorized to continue its flight to its final destination,” Aerocivil added. EFE
Caracas / EFE
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2024-09-22 17:32:38
