GALVESTON.- A small Mexican Navy aircraft Carrying a young patient and seven others crashed this Monday near Galveston, Texas, in an accident that killed at least five peopleaccording to local officials. The accident occurred in the afternoon near the foot of a coastal highway built over water, about 80 miles southeast of Houston.
In a statement about it The Associated Pressthis was announced by the Mexican Navy Four of the people on board were members of the military unit and four were civilians, including a child.. It was not immediately clear which of them was confirmed dead by U.S. Coast Guard Officer Luke Baker.
Two of the people on board were members of the Michou y Mau Foundation, a nonprofit organization that helps Mexican children who have suffered severe burns.
The Mexican Navy said in a statement that the plane was involved in a medical mission and had an “accident,” but promised to investigate the cause and assist local authorities in the search and rescue operation.
Teams of the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) arrived at the scene to work on the matter and provide input, the Texas Department of Public Safety said X. The cause is currently being investigated.
An NTSB spokesman said it was “aware of this accident and is gathering information about it.”
The Galveston County Sheriff’s Office said members of its dive team, drone unit and others responded to the crash. In a Facebook post, he said the public should avoid the area so emergency crews could work safely.
It is currently unclear whether the weather played a role.. However, the area has experienced fog for the past few days, according to Cameron Batiste, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. He stated that around 2:30 p.m. on Monday, a fog bank arrived with visibility of about 800 meters.
According to the flight tracking website Flight Radar, the small plane took off from Mérida Airport in the state of Yucatán (southeast) at 6:46 p.m. GMT and its registration was lost at 9:01 p.m. GMT over Galveston Bay, near Scholes International Airport.
With information from AP and AFP.
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