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Mexico Puebla governor Martha Erika Alonso killed in air crash | Mexico Puebla governor Martha Erika Alonso killed in air crash |
(35 minutes later) | |
The governor of Mexico's central Puebla state, Martha Erika Alonso, has died in an air crash, just days after being sworn into office. | The governor of Mexico's central Puebla state, Martha Erika Alonso, has died in an air crash, just days after being sworn into office. |
Her husband, Senator Rafael Moreno Valle, was also killed. | Her husband, Senator Rafael Moreno Valle, was also killed. |
Reports from Mexico say the accident happened shortly after the aircraft took off from the city of Puebla. | Reports from Mexico say the accident happened shortly after the aircraft took off from the city of Puebla. |
Ms Alonso, 45, became the first female governor of Puebla after hotly contested elections. She was member of the centre-right PAN party. | Ms Alonso, 45, became the first female governor of Puebla after hotly contested elections. She was member of the centre-right PAN party. |
The deaths were confirmed by Mexico's new President, Andrés Manuel López Obrador. | |
In a tweet (in Spanish), President López Obrador expressed "deepest condolences" the relatives of the two politicians. | |
He said an investigation would be launched to establish "the truth" about what caused the crash. | |
It was not immediately known whether the pilot was also killed in the incident near the state capital of Puebla, Mexico's second largest city. | |
Ms Alonso had taken office only on 14 December, narrowly beating President Lopez Obrador's favoured candidate for the governorship of one of Mexico's most populous states. | |
Her husband had also once served as the state governor. | |
Monday's incident comes after a number of high-profile deaths in helicopter crashes over the years in Mexico, including Interior Minister Francisco Blake Mora in 2011, the BBC's Will Grant reports. | |
Earlier this year, 13 people died when a minister's helicopter crashed into a crowd, although the minister himself survived, our correspondent says. | Earlier this year, 13 people died when a minister's helicopter crashed into a crowd, although the minister himself survived, our correspondent says. |