A small plane crashed Wednesday in a rural area of Norte de Santander province in northeast Colombia, killing all 15 people on board, authorities said.

Satena, the state-owned airline that operated the flight, said local officials in the community of Curasica notified authorities about where the plane had gone down and a rescue team was deployed to "assess the condition of the passengers."

Colombia's Transportation Ministry later released a statement saying that "once the aircraft was located on site, authorities regrettably confirmed that there were no survivors."

It also said protocols were put into place aimed at tracking down the plane.

The aircraft, which has a registration number of HK4709, took off at 11:42 am local time from the airport in Cucuta, the department's capital, bound for Ocana, a municipality surrounded by mountains, on a flight that typically lasts about 40 minutes.

The aircraft's final contact with air traffic control came minutes after takeoff, according to a statement released by Satena.

The plane lost contact in a mountainous area planted with coca leaves, the raw material for cocaine, and where illegal armed groups such as the National Liberation Army (ELN) and a dissident faction of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) operate.

The small plane was carrying two crew members and 13 passengers, including Diogenes Quintero, who represents the victims of the internal armed conflict in his region, the airline said.

Newspaper El Tiempo reported that lawmaker Diogenes Quintero and Carlos Salcedo, a candidate to Congress ahead of elections in March, were aboard the aircraft.

Representatives for Quintero said in a statement that they had not had contact with the politician or his assistant, Natalia Acosta Salcedo, since the plane took off.

"We are praying for our friends right now," the statement said.