Private jet crashes in Mexico, killing 13
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Wreckage of the Bombardier Challenger 601 private jet that crashed in a remote mountain region in northern Mexico on Sunday, while en route from the US city of Las Vegas.
PHOTO: EPA-EFE
MEXICO CITY • A private jet crashed in a remote mountain region in northern Mexico, killing all 13 people on board, the authorities and local media said.
The wreckage of the plane that took off from Las Vegas on Sunday was found via aerial surveillance in the northern municipality of Ocampo, the government of Coahuila state said in a statement.
A photograph published by local television network Milenio showed what it said were the burnt remnants of the plane, broken into pieces, spread over charred earth.
Mexican media on Monday reported that the plane's passengers were flying back from watching a boxing match in Las Vegas between Mexican boxer Saul "Canelo" Alvarez and US fighter Daniel Jacobs last Saturday.
The nationalities of the victims were not immediately clear but the surnames of the three crew members and 10 passengers published by the Coahuila government were all Hispanic.
The victims were between 19 and 57 years old, according to a version of the passenger list published in Mexican media.
Newspaper Diario de Yucatan said on its website that among the victims were 55-year-old businessman Luis Octavio Reyes Dominguez, his wife and their three children.
In a statement, Canada's Bombardier identified the plane as a Challenger 601 and said it had gone missing about 280km from the northern Mexican city of Monclova.
Expressing its condolences to the victims, the company said it had been in touch with Canada's transportation safety board and would work with the investigating authorities.
Mexico's civil aviation authority said the aircraft departed Las Vegas shortly before 3pm local time. Nearly two hours later, Monterrey lost track of the jet and was unable to make contact with the flight crew, it said in a statement.
Mexican broadcaster Televisa said that the pilot had intended to descend to avoid a storm.
Mr Francisco Martinez, an emergency services official in Coahuila, told TV network Milenio that part of the investigation would look into recent adverse weather conditions. However, he stopped short of saying the weather had caused the crash.
REUTERS
