17 soldiers were traveling in the aircraft, of which six were wounded and 11 more are missing, the high command said in a statement, without specifying whether the ship crashed or was shot down.

Authorities found the helicopter on a stretch of the Inírida river, in the department of Guaviare, where rebels from the former FARC operate, who remained in arms after the demobilization of the bulk of the fighters under the 2016 peace agreement.

According to the Colombian Army, the aircraft was participating in an operation against the so-called FARC dissent in an area where there are also drug crops.

The helicopter had been reported missing earlier.

The commission of the National Army Air Assault Division is in place, initiating the corresponding investigations in order to determine the circumstances of time, manner and place in which the events occurred, the army added in the statement.