At least seven people are dead after a small plane crashed during an attempted emergency landing in Central Mexico, the local authorities said.
A Cessna Citation 650 crashed in the municipality of San Mateo Atenco on Monday, Dec. 15, shortly before reaching the nearby Toluca International Airport, the office of Mexico’s Secretary of Infrastructure, Communications and Transportation released in a statement.
The crash site is San Mateo Atenco, in the outskirts of Toluca, the capital city of the State of Mexico, about 50 miles southwest of Mexico City.
According to the federal agency, the jet departed from Acapulco, a port about 400 miles south of San Mateo Atenco on the country’s Pacific Coast, and had eight passengers, a pilot, and a co-pilot on board before it crashed around 12:30 local time.
San Mateo Atenco Mayor Ana Muñiz told the local press that Toluca firefighters responded to a 911 call reporting the crash at 12:35 p.m.that
It was unclear whether anyone survived the crash and the victims’ identities were not immediately known.
Mexico State Civil Protection Coordinator Adrián Hernández reported seven people died in the crash, including three minors, the Associated Press reported.
“We are being responsible in the information we give,” Muñiz said after being asked about the fatality victims.
A jet, a soccer field and a warehouse
Photos from the scene show an aerial view of emergency services working to extinguish a fire caused after the aircraft struck an industrial warehouse in the Santa Maria Totoltepec region near Toluca.
According to reports, the jet attempted an emergency landing on a soccer field before it crashed into a warehouse and burst into flames.
The cause of the crash remained under investigation by Mexican authorities on Tuesday, Dec. 16.
“The Federal Agency of Civil Aviation, the Aviation Accidents and Incidents Analysis Directive and the Mexican Aero Space Navigation Services Directive, are conducting the corresponding investigation,” the federal agency wrote in its statement.
More than 130 people evacuated from homes after the plane crash
People were not working in the warehouse at the time of the crash, Muñiz reported.
Source: The Associated Press
