A small plane crashed Wednesday in a rural area of Colombia’s Norte de Santander province, killing all 15 people on board, including a sitting member of Congress, authorities said.

Satena, the state-owned airline operating the flight, said local officials in the community of Curasica alerted authorities to the crash site, prompting the deployment of rescue teams to assess the situation. Colombia’s Transportation Ministry later confirmed that no survivors were found.

“Once the aircraft was located, authorities regrettably confirmed there were no survivors,” the ministry said in a statement.

The aircraft, registered as HK4709, departed at 11:42 a.m. local time from Cúcuta, the provincial capital, en route to Ocaña, a mountainous municipality. The flight typically lasts about 40 minutes. Satena said the plane lost contact with air traffic control just minutes after takeoff.

The aircraft was carrying two crew members and 13 passengers. Among the victims was Diógenes Quintero, 36, a representative in Colombia’s House of Representatives for the Catatumbo region. Also killed was Carlos Salcedo, a social leader and congressional candidate.

Quintero was widely known as a human rights advocate in Catatumbo, a conflict-affected region near the Venezuelan border where the crash occurred.

Officials have not yet released a cause for the accident, saying an investigation is underway.