Six killed in cargo plane crash in Mexico

MEXICO CITY - Six people died when a cargo plane crashed near the airport of the northern Mexican city of Monterrey, the authorities said Wednesday.

Civil Aeronautics director Hector Gonzalez Week told Milenio Television that conditions were right for landing despite “heavy rain and some fog”. The authorities were investigating the possible causes of the crash.

The accident happened late Tuesday, in the boundary between the airport and the avenue that gives access to it. Several vehicles were hit, and there was an explosion and a large fire, eyewitnesses told reporters.

Airbus said in a statement that the A300-B4 plane operated by Aero Union had the accident shortly before 11.30 pm (1000 IST Wednesday), as it approached Monterrey airport from Mexico City.

Just before the accident, the pilot sought to abort the landing.

Monterrey, the third-largest metropolitan area in Mexico, is about 900 km north of Mexico City.

The authorities recovered the flight recorders and were examining the wreckage, which was scattered over a radius of 1 kilometre from the airport terminal.

The dead were a crew of five and one person whose vehicle was crushed by the falling plane. However, Civil Protection authorities did not rule out that there might be more casualties.