New Delhi, March 24 -- At least 66 people were killed on Monday when a Colombian Air Force plane carrying 125 people crashed just after takeoff in the South American country.

"Unfortunately, the information is of 34 deaths," Luis Emilio Bustos, the mayor of the nearby town of Puerto Leguizamo, was quoted as saying by Reuters initially, before the military updated the death toll at 66.

Nearly two dozen people, meanwhile, remain missing amid the crash debris, which continued to burn amid rescue attempts, videos on social media showed.

Another official - Jhon Gabriel Molina, the governor of the Putumayo department - had earlier told a local news channel that 34 people were killed while 70 were injured. He also said that 21 people remained...