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Mexico's Puebla governor Martha Erika Alonso dies in helicopter crash | Mexico's Puebla governor Martha Erika Alonso dies in helicopter crash |
(about 4 hours later) | |
A Mexican governor who was sworn in earlier this month and her senator husband have died in a helicopter crash in the central state of Puebla. | |
The aircraft carrying Puebla Gov Martha Erika Alonso and Sen Rafael Moreno Valle came down shortly after it took off. | |
The two pilots were killed. Reports say a third passenger also died. | |
Officials say the helicopter may have suffered an unspecified failure. An investigation has been opened. | |
Ms Alonso, 45, had been sworn in on 14 December as Puebla's first female governor, after hotly contested polls. | |
Mr Moreno, 50, had served as Puebla's governor between 2011 and 2017. | |
What do we know about the crash? | |
The privately-owned Agusta helicopter bound to Mexico City lost contact with air traffic control and crashed 10 minutes after take-off, Security Minister Alfonso Durazo said. | |
The accident happened on Monday at 14:50 local time (20:50 GMT) in the area of Santa María Coronango, near the state capital of Puebla, Mexico's second-largest city. | |
"At this point, there's no evidence that could lead us to conclude that the cause was not related to how the [helicopter] was functioning," Mr Durazo told journalists. | |
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said an investigation would be launched to establish "the truth" about what caused the crash. | |
In a tweet (in Spanish), he expressed "deepest condolences" to the relatives of the two politicians. | |
The accident 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. |
Who are the victims? | |
Ms Alonso was a member of the centre-right PAN party. In elections in July, she narrowly beat Manuel Barbosa, President López Obrador's favoured candidate for the governorship of one of Mexico's most populous states. | |
Puebla's parliament will now have to appoint an interim governor until new elections are held. | |
President López Obrador's leftist Morena party had alleged widespread irregularities and fraud in the poll, and the final results had to be validated by an electoral tribunal. | |
Mr Barbosa said the deaths were a "tragedy that no-one wishes to anyone", adding: "I am shocked and in mourning. My sympathies to their loved ones. This is not the time to make any speculation." | |
Rafael Moreno Valle was a member of the PAN in the Senate. Some opposition politicians called for an independent investigation into the crash. | |
The pilots have been identified as Capt Roberto Cope and First Officer Marco Antonio Tavera. | |
It is presumed that a fifth passenger was on board, but no details have been released. |