Chopper crashes in Mexico killing 13, Alfonso survives

A military helicopter carrying officials assessing damage from a powerful earthquake crashed Friday in southern Mexico, killing 13 people, all on the ground, according to the Associated Press and Reuters.

Five women, four men and three children were killed at the crash site and another person died later at the hospital, the Oaxaca state prosecutor’s office said in a statement, the AP reported.

Mexico’s Interior Department said that the helicopter was carrying Secretary Alfonso Navarrete and Oaxaca state Gov. Alejandro Murat, who were evaluating damage from the earthquake, when their helicopter crashed. The helicopter crashed on top of two vans in an open field while trying to land in Santiago Jamiltepec on Friday, officials told Reuters.

Secretary Alfonso Navarrete and Oaxaca state governor Alejandro Murat survived the crash, according to RT News.

The earthquake was first measured as a magnitude 7.5 and later lowered to having a magnitude 7.2 by the U.S. Geological Survey. The epicenter was found along the Pacific coast near Santiago Ixtayutla, a town in the state of Oaxaca in the southwestern area of the country.