US tourists killed in Mexico plane crash

A plane carrying 16 US tourists and three crew members on a visit to Mayan ruins crashed in the state of Yucatan yesterday. All aboard died.

Fernando Vargas, director general of Aero Ferinco, said the passengers had left the cruise ship Massdam at the Caribbean island of Cozumel and were flying to visit the Mayan ruins of Chichen Itza.

A US State Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said all 16 of the tourists were US citizens, most from the Pacific north-west. He said not all of their families had yet been notified.

Vargas said the twin-engine LET 410 with 16 passengers, a Mexican guide and two pilots crashed near the village of Tinum shortly after taking off from Chichen Itza on a return trip to Cozumel.

’’There were no indications of an emergency,’’ Vargas said.

The plane was flying at about 500ft when it began turning on to a course requested by the air traffic controller, he added. ‘‘It did not stop turning’’ and suddenly plunged to the ground.

’’We don’t know what happened,’’ Vargas said, though Mexican federal aviation officials were investigating.

Vargas said pilot Jose Luis Romero had 7,100 hours flying time and co-pilot Aurelio Perez Escalante more than 1,000.

The administrator of the Chichen Itza airport, Eduardo Alfaro de la Torre, told the government news agency Notimex that the pilot of the plane had not radioed for help before the accident.

The airline, based on Cozumel, flies in the Yucatan Peninsula, to Guatemala and Cuba. It specialises in chartered air tours.

Governor Patricio Patron told a news conference he saw no connection between the accident and Tuesday’s terrorist hijackings of four jetliners in the United States.