1980 Riohacha TAC Caravelle crash
Transportes Aéreos del Cesar Sud Aviation SE-210 Caravelle VI-R · Loss of control due to in-flight explosion of undetermined origin
From El Dorado International Airport (BOG) to El Dorado International Airport, Bogotá
Event
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- Event fatalities
- 70 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- 70
- Survivors
- 0
- InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
- Unknown
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- Airline
Sud Aviation SE-210 Caravelle VI-R
- Aircraft type
- Sud SE-210
- Category
- Airplane · from aircraft type
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- HK-1810
- Operator
- Transportes Aéreos del Cesar
- Onboard fatalities
- 70
- Route
- From El Dorado International Airport (BOG)To El Dorado International Airport, Bogotá
Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Riohacha, near the place the Wikipedia article names. Not the accident site.
From the Wikipedia article
The 1980 Riohacha Transportes Aéreos del Cesar Caravelle crash was a Colombian domestic flight that crashed on December 21, 1980. The flight, operating a Bogotá-Barranquilla-Valledupar-Riohacha-Medellín-Bogotá route, crashed at 2:23 p.m. local time, ten minutes after takeoff from Riohacha. All 70 occupants on board were killed, making the crash the deadliest in Colombia at the time, and the eighth-deadliest in Colombia today.
Accident
The flight took off from Bogotá and landed in Barranquilla at 11:47 a.m. on the morning of December 21, 1980. It departed Barranquilla at 12:00 p.m. and landed in Valledupar, then departing for Riohacha at 1:35 p.m. The plane took off on the accident leg at 2:15 p.m. for Medellín, and at 2:23 p.m., the explosion and subsequent crash occurred.
Sources in Barranquilla said that pilot Jorge Jimenez reported technical problems prior to the explosion. The pilots intended on making an emergency landing, but the damage from explosion prevented them from doing so.
Some Arhuaco indigenous peoples arrived in Riohacha sometime after the crash and reported having seen a plane engulfed in flames.
Several rescue patrols headed towards the site, but suspended operations at 6:54 p.m. on the evening of the crash. Aerial surveys of the area reported complete devastation, sighting clothes in trees and smoking remains of the plane scattered across a large area.
The crash was deemed unsurvivable.
Text from the Wikipedia article “1980 Riohacha TAC Caravelle crash” (revision 1368423600, retrieved 2026-09-18) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out. Read the article
Sources
Wikipedia article: 1980 Riohacha TAC Caravelle crash
- Revision
- 1368423600 · 2026-08-08 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q123018683
- Licence
- Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
Where each value comes from
- Record
- Wikipedia article "1980 Riohacha TAC Caravelle crash" (page 74925190, revision 1368423600)
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- centre of the town the Wikipedia infobox site names (GeoNames, CC BY 4.0)
- Aircraft, operator and route
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
- Operation
- Reviewed correction (2026-09-26): A Caravelle of Transportes Aéreos del Cesar flying a multi-stop domestic route with 70 occupants: an airline passenger flight. The article: "The flight, operating a Bogotá-Barranquilla-Valledupar-Riohacha-Medellín-Bogotá route, crashed at 2:23"
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft fatalities
- Ground fatalities
- not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
- Summary
- Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (1)
- Wikipedia · Facts from the Wikipedia article's infobox and coordinates, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.