Music star Yeison Jimenez among six killed in plane crash after revealing fatal premonition

A plane crash has left six people dead, including popular Colombian singer Yeison Jimenez. Photo / Luis Lizarazo, AFP

A Colombian pop star and his entire band have tragically been killed in a plane crash while travelling to perform at a concert – after he revealed a series of dreams in which he predicted that his aircraft would kill him.

Yeison Jimenez, 34, was en route to perform at a show in Colombia’s second-largest city, Medellin, at the weekend when the light aircraft carrying him and his musicians crashed and burst into flames, moments after takeoff from a small airfield in the central Colombian town of Paipa.

In videos broadcast on local media, shouts of “the runway is run out” can be heard as the aircraft takes off, with images later showing the wreckage ablaze.

The plane is believed to have been owned by Jimenez’s firm YJ Company SAS.

Jimenez’s team confirmed his death in a statement posted to Instagram, calling the loss “indescribable” and honouring him not just as an artist, but as a son, brother and friend who inspired thousands.

Five others were killed in the crash, including the singer’s photographer, Weisman Mora, who had posted a poignant final video of the group just before takeoff.

The Sun reported Jimenez also wrote a social media post before boarding the flight, saying: “Always humble, because what God gives you he can also take away.”

The other victims have been identified as the pilot Captain Hernando Torres and passengers Juan Manuel Rodriguez, Oscar Marin and Jefferson Osorio.

Just two hours before they were killed, Jimenez and his band members were pictured buying cheese in a shop near the airport where they posed for selfies with staff.

Jimenez, whose full name is Yeison Orlando Jimenez Galeano, was one of the most well-known pop stars in Colombia, producing eight albums in a 25-year career.

The artist had recently revealed his chilling dreams about dying in a plane crash, The New York Post reported.

“I dreamt three times that we were going to have a plane crash and that I had to tell the pilot to turn around. And when he arrived, he’d say, ‘Oh, boss, thank goodness you told me because something went wrong, but I fixed it, get in,’” Jimenez said in an interview with Colombian TV station Caracol.

“Those were the dreams. And in one of the dreams, I dreamt that we had died and that we were on the news. And it was the third time I dreamt that. God gave me three signs, and I didn’t understand them, I didn’t get them.”

In the same interview, he revealed that he had been involved in an emergency landing recently involving the same aircraft, 10 days before his son was due to be born.

“The plane takes off, and as it takes off, I feel something go puff, puff,” he said, adding that he had felt the aircraft start rocking and noting that his cameraman had spotted water coming out of the engine.

“There was no speed, we weren’t climbing.”

Colombia’s Civil Aviation Authority confirmed the crash was under investigation.

“The Civil Aeronautics Authority deeply regrets the accident that occurred in Paipa, Boyaca, in which six occupants of the N325FA aircraft died, including the artist Yeison Jimenez. We express our most sincere condolences to their families, friends and fans,” the statement read.

Jimenez is survived by his wife and three children.

Yeison’s stepdaughter Camila Jimenez, who he adopted as his own after meeting partner and mum of his other two children Sonia Restrepo, paid tribute to him online.

“I love you dad. You don’t know how much it hurts me to see your videos and for you not to be here,” she wrote online.

Sign up to Herald Premium Editor’s Picks, delivered straight to your inbox every Friday. Editor-in-Chief Murray Kirkness picks the week’s best features, interviews and investigations. Sign up for Herald Premium here.