At least 15 killed as cash-laden military cargo plane crashes in Bolivia

At least 15 people have died after a military cargo plane carrying banknotes crashed on Friday near Bolivia’s capital, damaging about a dozen vehicles on a highway and scattering bills on the ground, an official has said.Fire chief Pavel Tovar did not specify if those killed were in the plane or on the highway near the airport in La Paz. He said people had been injured.Footage from local media showed people rushing to collect the bills while police in riot gear tried to disperse them using teargas.A police offer protects himself from teargas spread to disperse people from getting near the site of the crashed aircraft and its cargo of newly printed money in El Alto, Bolivia. Photograph: Juan Karita/APThe aircraft, a C-130 Hercules transport plane, skidded off the runway at El Alto international airport and veered along an avenue before coming to rest in a field, local media footage showed.Debris from the aircraft, destroyed cars, and bodies littered the road. According to Tovar, at least 15 vehicles were involved. Firefighters managed to extinguish the flames engulfing the aircraft.The Ministry of Defence confirmed the crash, without providing further details.A destroyed car is pictured near the site where a military plane crashed in El Alto. Photograph: Aizar Raldes/AFP/Getty ImagesThe plane, which belongs to the Bolivian Air Force, was transporting new banknotes from the central bank to other cities and a large number of bills scattered on the ground at the crash site.The Bolivian Air Navigation and Airports authority (NAABOL) said in a statement that the C-130 departed the eastern city of Santa Cruz and crashed while landing at the international airport in La Paz, which suspended its operations.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 had picked up its cargo in Santa Cruz.With Associated Press and Agence France-Presse