LA PAZ – Fifteen people were killed and at least 30 more were injured on Friday evening after a Bolivian Air Force Hercules aircraft carrying new banknotes from the country’s central bank crashed onto a busy avenue amid inclement weather in the city of El Alto, near Bolivia’s capital La Paz, according to television reports.
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 temporarily closed 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.