Mexican Navy plane crashes off US coast, killing five

At least five people have died as a result of a small Mexican Navy plane that crashed off the southern coast of the country killing a medical patient and seven others.

Four of the people on board were Navy officers, according to Mexico’s Navy in a statement released on Monday, and four were civilians, including a young person.

One person is still missing while two people survived the collision, according to the statement.

The Mexican Marine Corps expressed condolences to the families of those who perished in this tragic accident in a statement released.

At least five of the passengers on board had died, according to US coastguard Petty Officer Luke Baker, who did not name the passengers.

The crash’s cause is being looked into.

The Mexican Navy’s statement did not provide more details, saying the plane had an “accident” while passing through Galveston.

The plane left Merida, Mexico’s Yucatan state, at 18:46 GMT, and was last seen over Galveston Bay, along Texas’s coast, close to Scholes International airport at 21:01 GMT, according to the flight tracking website Flight Radar.

According to the website of the nonprofit, the Mexican Navy claimed the plane was supporting a medical mission in collaboration with the Michou and Mau Foundation, which provides emergency transportation to children with life-threatening burns to Shriners Children’s Hospital in Galveston.

The Texas Department of Public Safety announced on social media platform X that federal aviation administration and NTSB teams have arrived at the crash site.

NTSB employees are “aware of this accident and are gathering information about it,” according to a NTSB spokesman.

The crash was being responded to by the Galveston County Sheriff’s Office’s dive team, crime scene unit, drone unit, and patrol, according to the report.

If the weather played a role, it was not immediately known.