MEXICO CITY—A private executive jet flying from Las Vegas with three crew members and 10 passengers crashed in northern Mexico over the weekend and there did not appear to be any survivors, authorities said on May 6.
An air search located the downed plane in a remote mountainous area in the municipality of Ocampo on Monday, the Coahuila state government said in a statement.
“There were no survivors seen,” the statement said.
Encuentran restos de un avión en Coahuila
➡ https://t.co/u9E7ZoaAR0 pic.twitter.com/GBW9M7Egus
— Telediario (@telediariomty) May 6, 2019
Personnel from the public safety department and prosecutor’s office were making their way to the site. The cause of the crash was under investigation.
The jet left Las Vegas on Sunday afternoon and had been expected that evening in the northern Mexican city of Monterrey, but it never arrived, prompting a search. Flight controllers lost contact with the plane over Coahuila.
#ULTIMAHORA
Circula en redes imagen del accidente del avión Bombardier Challenger 601, matrícula N601VH, cerca de #Monclova, reportado como desaparecido desde el domingo y cubría la ruta Las Vegas-Monterrey. pic.twitter.com/HxNlQZfA3U— César Cepeda (@cesarmty) May 6, 2019
After leveling off at 37,000 feet, the plane started slightly gaining and losing altitude, according to flight tracking site FlightAware.com. When the plane later climbed to more than 40,000 feet, FlightAware was unable to continue tracking the flight.
The plane’s location was last recorded at about 7:40 p.m. Eastern time.
A spokesperson with the Federal Aviation Administration said Monday the agency did not have any information about the flight and referred questions about incidents in Mexico’s airspace to local authorities.
Officials did not release the identities of those aboard.
Coahuila: gobernador Miguel Riquelme habla de la búsqueda de la aeronave. pic.twitter.com/YnvQl6Trqi
— Azteca Noticias (@AztecaNoticias) May 6, 2019
Local media reported that the passengers were returning from a weekend trip that included seeing the Saul “Canelo” Alvarez fight on the Las Vegas Strip.
Mexico’s civil aviation authority declined to provide information.
The plane was registered to Utah-based TVPX, listed as an insurance, customs and trust company. The company declined to comment on who was operating the plane.
Plane Catches on Fire in Russia
Reports of the Mexican crash come just a day after Russian airliner burst into flames while making an emergency landing at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport Sunday evening, and at least 40 people died, officials said, as reported by The Associated Press.
The Sukhoi SSJ100 operated by national airline Aeroflot had 73 passengers and five crew members on board when it touched down and sped down a runway spewing huge flames and black smoke.
Elena Markovskaya, a spokeswoman for Russia’s Investigative Committee, said early Monday that 41 people were killed. But Health Minister Veronika Skvortsova said later that 38 survived, implying the death toll was 40.
The victims included one member of the crew and at least two teenagers, according to the Investigative Committee.
Video showed desperate passengers leaping out of the plane onto inflatable evacuation slides and staggering across the airport’s tarmac and grass, some holding luggage.
Epoch Times reporter Jack Phillips and The CNN Wire contributed to this report.
