After a military plane crashed on Friday carrying 17.1 million banknotes of various denominations belonging to the Central Bank of Bolivia (BCB), a crowd rushed among the wreckage to steal at least 30% of the money.

Bolivian banks were besieged on Tuesday by thousands of people seeking to exchange their legitimate banknotes, which they mistook for stolen currency after the crash of a military plane last Friday. The C-130 Hercules aircraft that crashed Friday at El Alto airport, killing 24 people, was carrying nearly 17.1 million banknotes of various denominations belonging to the Central Bank of Bolivia (BCB), totaling 423 million bolivianos, according to the institution. This is equivalent to 53 million euros.

After the crash, a crowd rushed through the wreckage to steal at least 30% of the money, according to the government. BCB announced the cancellation of all tickets carried on the plane, which belonged to a series containing the letter B.

However, businesses subsequently stopped accepting banknotes with serial numbers containing that letter, even from older batches, for fear they were worthless. This led thousands of people to form long lines outside the central bank headquarters and other banks in Bolivia's capital and the nearby city of El Alto to exchange their money.

Ice on the runway

“A bread vendor wouldn’t accept one of my bills,” Serapio Mayta, a 77-year-old retiree who had been waiting his turn for two hours, told AFP. “The shopkeepers don’t want to take them; it’s a big problem,” he added. A few meters away, Blanca Molina, a 78-year-old homemaker, wondered aloud, “I still have some cash on hand. What am I supposed to do now?”

The president of the central bank, David Espinoza, called for public understanding and asked on Tuesday, during a press conference, that banknotes with legal numbering be accepted.

BCB has made available on its official website a search engine allowing Bolivians to enter the number of each ticket and check its validity.

The investigation into the causes of the accident is ongoing. The surviving pilot, according to his lawyer, told investigators that there was ice on the runway and that the aircraft's brakes had failed.