An official visit to the epicenter of yesterday’s earthquake in Oaxaca turned to tragedy last night when an armed forces helicopter crashed, killing 14 people.
The Black Hawk aircraft was carrying federal Interior Secretary Alfonso Navarrete Prida and Oaxaca Governor Alejandro Murat and was about to land when it went out of control and plummeted to the ground in Santiago Jamiltepec at about 10:00.
The helicopter went down amidst a group of earthquake victims who were camping in the field after their houses were damaged in the 7.2-magnitude quake that struck yesterday at 5:39pm.
Thirteen adults and a six-month-old baby died and 13 people were injured.
Neither Navarrete nor Murat was hurt in the accident.
The two officials had traveled to the municipality in Oaxaca’s coastal region to inspect the damage left by the earthquake.
Source: ADN Sureste (sp), Milenio (sp)