A Bolivian Air Force C-130 Hercules carrying newly printed currency for the country’s central bank crashed while attempting to land at El Alto International Airport (LPB), killing at least 22 people and injuring about 29 as crowds rushed in to grab banknotes scattered across the scene.
Authorities said the aircraft slid off the runway and struck vehicles along a nearby road in El Alto, the high-altitude city that serves Bolivia’s administrative capital, La Paz. Police said most of the dead were riding aboard public busses hit during the crash, and at least one crew member also died.
The crash created a second emergency almost immediately as wind scattered loose bills of the boliviano currency across the roadway and adjacent fields, drawing thousands of residents into a chaotic, dangerous area where rescue crews still worked among wreckage, fire, and bodies. Reuters reported security forces used tear gas to push back crowds and arrested dozens of people as they scooped up the Bolivian cash.
Officials described the cargo as roughly 18 tons of new banknotes, equal to about $62 million in US dollars, intended to replace older currency, a routine movement of physical cash supplies handled by central banks.
Bolivia’s central bank said the bills held no legal value because they had not entered circulation. Central Bank President David Espinoza said authorities could track banknotes through confirmed serial numbers and treat them as invalid, a warning aimed at people who took money from the crash site.
Instead of attempting a prolonged recovery of every bill after the February 27, 2026 crash, soldiers and police moved to destroy much of the scattered currency at the scene. Reuters and the AP reported troops gathered bundles and set fires to burn the banknotes, a decision that triggered anger among residents who protested the destruction in a city that has faced deep economic frustration.
Investigators continued to piece together the cause of the accident. Reuters reported officials still searched for the aircraft’s black box in the days after the crash, while President Rodrigo Paz called the incident a national tragedy and promised an investigation.
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