DistantNews
Support us
🇦🇷 Argentina /Crime & Justice

He left the plane before takeoff. Minutes later, it exploded with 107 people aboard

From La Nación · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

In-depth Named sources Outcome reported
  • A last-minute staffing decision kept Avianca auxiliary crew member Diego Bermúdez off Flight 203, which a Medellín cartel bomb destroyed minutes after takeoff on Nov. 27, 1989.
  • The Boeing 727 carried 101 passengers and six crew members, all of whom died in the bombing over Colombia’s Canoas hill.
  • Bermúdez later identified colleagues’ remains and continued working for Avianca despite the trauma.

Diego Bermúdez was ordered off Avianca Flight 203 just before takeoff. Minutes later, a bomb planted by the Medellín cartel destroyed the Boeing 727 with 107 people aboard.

The aircraft, registered as HK 1803, left Bogotá’s Puente Aéreo for Cali on Nov. 27, 1989. It carried six crew members and 101 passengers. The bomb exploded in midair, disintegrating the plane over Canoas hill.

Bermúdez had completed the technical checks and assigned the emergency exits when a ground supervisor and fellow auxiliary crew member Rita Elisa Galvis entered the cabin. The airline gave priority to Galvis because of her greater seniority. She wanted to make the trip to deliver Christmas presents to her family in Cúcuta before beginning a vacation of more than a month.

She told me: ‘I’ll tell you the truth about why I want the flight. In December I’m going on a very long trip. I’m taking more than a month off. I have the Christmas presents here to take to my mother.’

· Diego BermúdezHe recalled why Rita Elisa Galvis asked to take his place on the flight.

“She told me: ‘I’ll tell you the truth about why I want the flight. In December I’m going on a very long trip. I’m taking more than a month off. I have the Christmas presents here to take to my mother,’” Bermúdez recalled. He followed the order, said goodbye to colleague Astrid del Pilar Gómez Díaz and even handed her a sandwich before the door closed.

Bermúdez was later aboard another aircraft waiting to fly to Medellín when pilot Alberto Sarmiento entered the cockpit with a breaking voice and said, “They brought down the 1803.” Radio and internal communications confirmed that it was the plane from which Bermúdez had been removed. He later spent months grieving, identified colleagues’ remains at the Gaviria funeral home and continued working for Avianca for several more years.

They brought down the 1803.

· Alberto SarmientoThe pilot broke the news that Avianca Flight 203 had been destroyed.
About this summary

Originally published by La Nación in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

More Stories

From Our Blog