San Cristobal De Las Casas, Mexico – A gun battle near the crash site of a small plane that may have been carrying drugs killed five people in southernmost Chiapas state, authorities said Saturday.
The shooting started Friday night at a community farm in Nuevo Solistahuacan, 280 miles (450 kilometers) north of the state capital, Tuxtla Gutierrez.
According to a statement released by Chiapas prosecutors, four men headed to the home of the administrator of the farm, Jose Hernandez, and demanded he drive them to the site of the plane crash, which occurred Dec. 1.
A group of locals with automatic weapons ambushed the men on the way to the crash site, however, touching off a battle that witnesses said lasted five minutes.
Five people were killed: Four of whom had yet to be identified.
Authorities said simply that the fifth victim was an area resident.
Arrested in the case was Hernandez, who was unharmed in the shootout, and another farm official.
On the same day the plane crashed, police arrested three alleged drug smugglers carrying 330 pounds (150 kilograms) of cocaine and heroin near Nuevo Solistahuacan.
Those captures prompted investigators to speculate privately that the crashed aircraft was carrying drugs and federal authorities are said to be looking into the case.
