Puebla State Governor And Her Husband, A Senator, Both Aboard The Aircraft When It Went Down

Two Mexican elected officials were among those fatally injured Monday when the helicopter they were aboard went down shortly after takeoff from a heliport in the city of Puebla.

There were five people in all aboard the aircraft, including two pilots and a third passenger. None survived.

The two elected officials were the newly-elected governor of Puebla state Martha Erika Alonso and her husband Rafael Moreno Valle, a former governor of the state who had subsequently been elected to the federal Senate.

Fox news reports that both Alonso and Valle were members of the conservative National Action Party.

The aircraft involved was an Agusta 109 which had departed from Puebla en route to Mexico City. About 10 minutes into the flight, the aircraft went down for unknown reasons in Santa Maria Coronango, a municipality on the outskirts of Puebla.

The investigation into the accident will likely be politically sensitive. Alonso's election had been challenged in July by Obrador's Morena party. That challenge was dismissed by an independent electoral commission, and she had been sworn into office in mid-December. Valle had been governor of the state from 2011 to 2017 before his election to the federal Senate. His opponents have alleged that he somehow manipulated the Puebla election to assure that his wife was the winner.

(Image from file. Not accident aircraft)

FMI: Source report