MEXICO CITY — A small plane crashed in a wealthy Mexico City neighborhood on Tuesday, killing the nation’s powerful interior secretary and at least seven others.
Juan Camilo Mourino was one of President Felipe Calderon’s closest advisers and has been embroiled in scandal since taking office in the midst of Mexico’s fight against drug cartels. He was in charge of the country’s security.
Presidential spokesman Max Cortazar said Mourino and a group of advisers were returning from an event in San Luis Potosi. Officials say the crash appeared to be an accident.
The Learjet 24 set fire to about two dozen vehicles in the posh Lomas de Chapultepec neighborhood. Officials evacuated about 1,800 people from area offices.
Mayor Marcelo Ebrard said all those aboard the the plane were killed and that more people may have died on the ground in the burned vehicles.
At least 40 people were injured, seven of them seriously.
Also aboard the plane was former assistant attorney general Jose Luis Santiago, who was previously in charge of pursuing extraditions against drug traffickers, and who had been the target of at least one planned assassination attempt.
