Copter on quake mission flips in Mexico, kills 13 on ground

A downed helicopter lays in its side on top of a van, in Santiago Jamiltepec, Oaxaca state, Mexico on Saturday, February 17, 2018. The military helicopter carrying officials assessing damage from the Friday’s earth quake crashed killing 13 people and injuring 15, all of them on the ground. (AP Photo/Luis Alberto Cruz Hernandez)

MEXICO CITY — Thirteen people were killed while 16 others were injured after a military helicopter carrying officials, who were assessing damage from a powerful earthquake, flipped as it was attempting to land in southern Mexico, crashing on top of people who had fled their homes and were spending the night outside.

The 13 people killed were the only known fatalities related to the magnitude 7.2 quake that shook parts of southern and central Mexico earlier on February 16.

No one aboard the helicopter, including Interior Secretary Alfonso Navarrete and Oaxaca Gov. Alejandro Murat, was seriously hurt. Jorge Morales, a local reporter who was aboard the helicopter when it crashed on Friday night, described harrowing moments as the pilot lost control and the helicopter attempted to touch down in a swirl of dust in Jamiltepec, a city in Oaxaca state.

“The moment the helicopter touched down it lost control, it slid — like it skidded — and it hit some vehicles that were parked alongside the area that had been defined for the landing,” Morales told a Mexican television news program. “In that moment, you couldn’t see anything, nothing else was heard beside the sound that iron makes when it scrapes the earth.”

Navarrete told local media: “(A)s the army helicopter we were traveling in tried to land, the pilot lost control, the helicopter fell and flipped.”

A state government official, who requested not to be named for being unauthorized to speak about the incident, said that the chopper crashed into a group of people who had been spending the night outside after the 7.2 magnitude earthquake hit the area. Aftershocks, including one of 5.8-magnitude that struck about an hour after the first, had caused people to flee their homes for fear they would collapse.

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

The Defense Department said the Blackhawk helicopter crashed as it was preparing to land in a vacant lot. The department said the victims had been waiting for the helicopter, but did not provide more details.

Navarrete and the defense department said they regretted the loss of life.

The quake damaged about 50 homes in Jamiltepec, as well as the town hall and church, according to the Interior Department. It also rocked buildings in Mexico City, about 240 miles northwest, and many other parts of the country.

But the damage was minimal compared to a massive 8.2 quake that struck in the same general area on Sept. 7 and a 7.1 magnitude quake on Sept. 19, which killed a total of 471 people between the two of them and damaged over 180,000 houses in eight states, including Mexico City.

The United States Geological Survey said Friday’s quake was centered 53 kilometers (33 miles) northeast of Pinotepa in southern Oaxaca state and had a depth of 24 kilometers (15 miles).

Two people suffered fractures caused by the quake and were treated in Pinotepa Nacional. Their lives were not in danger.

Navarrete has led the Interior Department, which oversees most political and security issues, for little over a month. Earlier this month, an intelligence agent from an agency overseen by Navarrete’s department was caught tailing an opposition presidential candidate.                         /kga