The Federal Attorney General’s Office (FGR) is investigating the crash of a small plane that killed 10 people on Monday as the pilots tried to execute an emergency landing near the Toluca International Airport, about 30 miles west of Mexico City.
During her Tuesday morning press conference, President Claudia Sheinbaum told reporters that the victims were a family traveling from Acapulco to the México state capital along with the two pilots. Three children under the age of 10 were among the dead.
Investigators say that the pilot of the Cessna 650 Citation III aircraft sent an emergency message to the control tower of the Toluca airport, reporting that they were experiencing problems and he was looking for a place to bring the plane down.
Almost immediately thereafter, controllers in the tower said a plume of black smoke could be seen to the northeast of the airfield.
Authorities say the plane had apparently tried to land on a soccer field about 800 meters from an airport runway. There was a large rut on the pitch, but the plane was apparently traveling too fast to stop and it crashed into the wall of a truck maintenance workshop.
The aircraft exploded, starting a large fire that prompted the evacuation of about 130 people, according to the mayor of San Mateo Atenco, a municipality on Toluca’s eastern edge, but there were no reports of casualties on the ground.
Due to the presence of diesel containers and gas tanks, the authorities cordoned off a four-block area for several hours until the fire was under control.
“The [FGR] is conducting the review, but apparently it was a technical failure,” Sheinbaum said at her Tuesday morning press conference, while also expressing her condolences to the family and friends of the victims.
Residents of the area said it was not unusual to see a plane flying so low since the airport is close by, but one witness said the aircraft appeared to be wobbling from side-to-side.
Federal prosecutors have been joined by forensic experts, and agents representing the Federal Ministerial Police, the Criminal Investigation Agency, the Federal Civil Aviation Agency, the Directorate of Aviation Accident and Incident Analysis and the Directorate of Air Navigation Services in Mexican Airspace.
According to the newspaper La Jornada, the jet is owned by Servicios Aéreos Estrella, which has a hangar at the Toluca airport. It had departed Acapulco around noon on Monday and was due to arrive at 12:29 p.m.
The authorities confirmed the victims as:
- Natalia, 2 years old
- Raúl, 4
- Ximena, 9
- Gustavo Palomino Olet, 50
- Ilse Lizeth Hernández Téllez, 32
- Raúl Gómez Ruiz, 60
- Raúl Gómez Buenfil, 31
- Olga Janine Buenfil Cardone, 60
- Juan Carlos Olivares Casas, pilot, 61
- Walding Sánchez Manzano, co-pilot, 72
With reports from La Jornada, The Associated Press, Quadratín and LopezDoriga.com
