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MEXICO-US-AVIATION-ACCIDENT
Mexico confirms 13 dead in luxury jet crash
MONTERREY, Mexico, May 8, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Mexican authorities found
Tuesday human remains that confirm the death of the 13 people on board a
luxury jet that crashed over the weekend in the north of the country.
The private plane took off Sunday from Las Vegas and was traveling to the
Mexican city of Monterrey but crashed in a mountainous area difficult to
access, where forensic experts had to arrive by helicopter.
The experts “recovered all the bodies — there are 13 of them,” Coahuila
state attorney general Gerardo Marquez said.
He explained that seven of the bodies were “practically intact” but
burned, while the other six were “reduced to very small fragments” due to the
impact.
The remains were identified thanks to the positions in which the bodies
were found among the debris of the aircraft. Further identification will take
place by analyzing teeth and bone fragments.
Air-traffic controllers said they lost contact with the Bombardier
Challenger 601 jet late Sunday, after it abruptly lost altitude over
Coahuila.
Only the wings and the tail were left intact while the fuselage was badly
charred and shattered.
Aboard the plane were two executives of the Mexican oil services company
Typhoon Offshore, along with eight relatives, according to a company
statement. The group had come to Las Vegas to attend a fight in which Mexican
boxer Saul “El Canelo” Alvarez defeated Daniel Jacobs of the United States.
On Twitter, the athlete expressed sorrow over the incident, saying “my
prayers are with their relatives.”
The other three people who died were the crew of the plane, a twin-engine
Bombardier Challenger 600 series.
Coahuila Undersecretary of Civil Protection Francisco Martinez pointed to
changing weather, with storms, hailstorms and strong winds as a possible
cause of the crash.
BSS/AFP/MSY/1115 hrs