- An air ambulance crash killed all four people on board near an airport in Morelos, Mexico, on Wednesday
- The victims were identified as Gerardo Álvarez, the pilot, Roberto Manzano, the co-pilot; Dr. Lilian Resendiz; and Mario León, a paramedic
- The Morelos Public Prosecutor’s Office is investigating the cause of the accident
Four crew members were killed after an air ambulance crashed in the central Mexican state of Morelos.
The small plane was en route from Iguala, a city in Guerrero state on the Pacific coast, shortly after landing at Mariano Matamoros airport in Cuernavaca, when it crashed on Wednesday in a forested, mountainous area near the municipality of Tetlama.
Images on social media showed the plane, a Learjet 35, in flames and smoke billowing from a charred gash in the side of a hill.
The crash killed the pilot, Gerardo Álvarez; the co-pilot, Roberto Manzano; Dr. Lilian Resendiz; and paramedic, Mario León.
An air ambulance crashed Wednesday near Tetlama, a town in the central Mexican state of Morelos, killing all four crew members. The victims were identified as the pilot, Gerardo Álvarez; the co-pilot, Roberto Manzano; Dr. Lilian Resendiz; and paramedic, Mario León
Dr. Lilian Reséndiz (left) was one of four crew members who died on Wednesday after a plane crash in Mexico. A witness saw the small plane make a turn in the air before it crashed and said she heard three explosions
Paramedic Mario León was among four crew members killed in an air ambulance crash in Morelos, Mexico on Wednesday
Firefighters along with members of the National Guard and Navy stand near the crash site, where a Learjet plummeted, killing all four crew members, including a doctor
A witness told Mexican news channel Proceso that she saw the plane make “one turn in the air” before it crashed.
“Then I heard three explosions,” she said. ‘When we approached the plane it was already on fire. About twenty minutes later, the rescue teams arrived.”
The aircraft was part of a fleet operated by XÉ Médica Ambulancias, which mourned the tragic accident.
“We deeply regret the deaths of our colleagues (and) aeromedical crew,” the company said in a statement on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. (To) your family and friends, please accept our condolences.”
The area around the crash site was immediately cordoned off and under surveillance by the National Guard and Navy.
The Morelos Attorney General’s Office is leading the investigation.