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Mexico minister killed in crash | |
(30 minutes later) | |
Mexican Interior Minister Juan Camilo Mourino has been killed along with seven others in a plane crash in central Mexico City, reports say. | |
The small plane burst into flames as it came down during rush-hour in the heart of the capital's financial district around 1900 local time (0000 GMT). | |
Correspondents describe Mr Mourino, who was 36, as a rising political star. | |
Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard said no one on board could possibly have survived the crash. | |
"It's a fact. There is no other possibility," he told reporters at the site. | |
Transport Minister Luis Tellez said a former assistant attorney general, Jose Luis Santiago Vasconcelos, had also died in the crash. | |
The cause of the incident remains unknown. | |
'Enormous explosion' | |
Mr Ebrard said 40 people were injured and a number of cars destroyed by flames from the plane.Firemen battled to bring flames at the crash-site under control | |
"The explosion was enormous," an eye-witness told AFP news agency. | |
"The flames reached higher than the buildings on La Reforma", the witness added, referring to the main street in the city's financial district. | "The flames reached higher than the buildings on La Reforma", the witness added, referring to the main street in the city's financial district. |
Police, fire and ambulances attended the crash scene, and the fire has since been brought under control. | Police, fire and ambulances attended the crash scene, and the fire has since been brought under control. |
Correspondents said Mr Mourino had come under recent pressure amid allegations he acted improperly by signing government contracts on behalf of his family's gasoline business while in office. | |
Mr Mourino, a close ally of Mexico's President Felipe Calderon, had denied any wrongdoing. |