Mexico's interior minister dies in plane crash
Güncelleme Tarihi:
Mexico's powerful interior minister, head of the government’s bloody battle against drug gangs, died along with at least eight others in a spectacular plane crash Tuesday during evening rush hour in central Mexico City. (UPDATED)
Juan Camilo Mourino, 37, had been traveling in a small plane that crashed near the capitals main avenue, setting dozens of cars on fire. The cause of the crash was unknown, but the pilot had reported a breakdown to the air traffic control at
Mourino had led a government campaign against mounting drug-related violence -- in which some 4,000 have died so far this year -- including the deployment of some 36,000 troops across the country.
Security advisor Jose Luis Santiago Vasconcelos also died in the crash, in a massive blow to the government’s anti-drug strategy.
"Nine died in the Interior Ministry plane," said
"Forty were injured, including 20 hospitalized with different burns or injuries. Seven have serious burns because when the plane crashed there was a fire," Ebrard was quoted by AFP as saying on Televisa news.
The Interior Ministry Learjet crashed at 6:40 pm (0040 GMT) on a pedestrian street near the capitals main
"The explosion was enormous, the flames rose higher than the buildings on Reforma," a witness told AFP.
"It was horrible. I saw an enormous column of black smoke and I heard three explosions," said another witness, Nelly Cabrera.
Security forces evacuated the accident site shortly after the crash.
The plane had taken off from the central state of
President Felipe Calderon paid homage to "one of my closest collaborators and one of my best and closest friends," in a brief statement to journalists. The government "will carry out all necessary investigations to find out the causes of the tragedy," Calderon said.
Mourino, who became interior minister in January, was a key figure in Calderon’s cabinet.
Calderon said he was a politician who had "tact and the strategic capacity for dialogue to carry out reforms."
Mourino had been accused of favoring his family’s businesses in contracts with state oil company Pemex when he was advisor to the Energy Ministry in 2003.
Calderon, who is waging a high-stakes war on Mexico's powerful drug cartels, mourned the loss of a close aide and friend who had worked with him for years.
"Mexico has lost a compatriot who worked for the service of his country," Calderon said in a televised speech.
More than 4,000 people have been killed this year, mainly drug traffickers but also police and soldiers, by drug gang hitmen lashing back at Calderon's anti-cartel campaign and fighting new turf wars with each other.
Drug gangs appeared to take their feud with the government to a new level in September when a grenade was lobbed into a crowd of civilians celebrating a national holiday. Authorities are holding three men charged with carrying out the attack for the Gulf cartel's armed "Zetas" wing.
Communications Minister Luis Tellez said everything pointed to Tuesday's crash being caused by an accident, but Jorge Lara, vice president of a national civil aviation rescue committee said it was too early to be sure. "It could have been anything, from mechanical failure to sabotage," Lara told Reuters.
A colleague of Lara at the scene said it appeared that something happened to the plane in the air and it nosedived into the ground, with minimal damage to surrounding buildings.
Photo: AP