LA PAZ, Feb 27 (Reuters) – The death toll has risen to 20 in the crash on Friday evening of a Bolivian Air Force Hercules aircraft during bad weather in the city of El Alto, near Bolivia’s capital La Paz, AFP reported citing police.
The plane was carrying new banknotes from the country’s central bank.
The military aircraft had departed from the city of Santa Cruz and crashed after landing and skidding off the runway onto a neighboring avenue, according to local authorities.
Social media footage showed chaotic scenes of people flocking to the scene of the crash, appearing to pick up money that lay strewn on the ground following the accident. Local authorities on the scene were warding off people using water hoses and tear gas. Reuters was unable to identify the images.
Bolivia’s central bank was set to address reporters later on Friday evening.
The El Alto International Airport was closed temporarily following the crash, national airline Boliviana de Aviacion said in a statement, adding the aircraft involved in the accident did not belong to its fleet.
Video broadcast on local media showed the aircraft was severely damaged, as were a number of vehicles along the avenue where the crash took place.
(Reporting by Daniel Ramos and Devika Nair; Writing by Iñigo Alexander; Editing by Brendan O’Boyle, Chris Reese and Kate Mayberry)
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