Cargo plane carrying money crashes near Bolivia's capital, killing at least 15 people, official says
La Paz (Bolivia)(AP): A cargo plane carrying money crashed Friday near Bolivia's capital, damaging about a dozen vehicles on highway, scattering bills on the ground and leaving at least 15 people dead and others injured, an official said.
Defense Minister Marcelo Salinas said the Hercules C-130 plane was transporting newly printed Bolivian currency when it “landed and veered off the runway" at an airport in El Alto, a city adjacent to the capital of La Paz, before ending up in a nearby field. Firefighters managed to put out the flames that engulfed the aircraft.
Fire chief Pavel Tovar said at least 15 people died but he did not clarify if the dead were in the plane or in the cars on the nearby highway.
Salinas did not specify how many people had been killed in the crash and said the cause was being investigated.
Bolivian Air Force Gen. Sergio Lora said two of the plane's six crew members had not been found as of late Friday, adding that the aircraft was arriving from the eastern city of Santa Cruz.
Images on social media showed debris from the aircraft, destroyed cars and bodies scattered on the road. According to Tovar, at least 15 vehicles were damaged.
The plane, belonging to the Bolivian air force, was transporting money to La Paz and images on social media showed people rushing to collect the bills scattered at the crash site, while police in riot gear tried to disperse them.
Tovar said the hundreds of people trying to collect the spilled bills were hindering rescue efforts.
More than 500 soldiers and 100 police officers took control of the area to disperse the mob, according to official reports. Police and military personnel burned the cash boxes in the presence of Central Bank President David Espinoza, who said the bills “have no legal value because they never entered circulation,” without clarifying what that meant.
Espinoza did not specify the amount of money being transported but he said the banknotes had arrived in Santa Cruz from abroad.
Authorities temporarily suspended all flights to and from the terminal.
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Security forces destroy 23 illegal bunkers, seize 18 IEDs in Manipur
Imphal (PTI): Security forces have destroyed 23 bunkers illegally constructed in Manipur's Ukhrul and seized 18 IEDs in Tengnoupal district in separate operations, a police statement said on Saturday.
The bunkers were destroyed on Thursday in the hill villages of Mongkot Chepu, Shongphel, Mullam, Sirarakhong and Ringue in Litan police station area, it said.
A 12-bore pump action gun, 17 cartridges of different calibres and 111 empty cases of fired bullets were also seized.
At least seven people have been shot dead in different firing incidents and more than 30 houses have been torched since violence broke out between Tangkhul Naga and Kuki communities in Ukhrul district in February this year.
Meanwhile, in a separate operation on Wednesday, security forces seized a cache of arms and explosives in T Bongmol village in Moreh police station area in Tengnoupal district.
Two single-barrel rifles, four 9mm pistols with magazines and 18 improvised explosive devices (IEDs) were seized. The explosives were destroyed on the spot, it added.
