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Mexico Crash That Killed UT Grad Likely An Accident

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The Associated Press

Published: November 5, 2008

MEXICO CITY - A plane crash that killed a University of Tampa graduate who is one of the top officials in the war against drug trafficking appears to be an accident, but foreign investigators are in Mexico to rule out an attack by cartels, the transportation secretary said today.

The government Learjet 45 plowed into rush-hour traffic in a wealthy neighborhood of Mexico City late Tuesday, killing Interior Secretary Juan Camilo Mourino, former anti-drug prosecutor Jose Luis Santiago Vasconcelos and at least 11 others, including four people on the ground, Mexico City prosecutor Miguel Angel Mancera told the Televisa network.

"The University of Tampa community mourns the untimely passing of one of its many outstanding graduates, Juan Camilo Mourino, class of 1993," according to a statement from the university. "Mr. Mourino had recently been interviewed in The University of Tampa alumni magazine regarding his work as Mexico's secretary of governance, and as such the University community today is especially saddened by this news."

The deaths of Mourino and Vasconcelos are a major blow to President Felipe Calderon's already embattled government and its fight against drug trafficking.

Mourino, 37, was Calderon's top Cabinet minister, in charge of domestic politics and security. Vasconcelos was previously in charge of prosecuting and extraditing drug traffickers and had been the target of at least one planned assassination attempt in the past.

Transportation Secretary Luis Tellez, however, told a news conference that "there are no indications that would support any hypothesis other than that this was an accident," Tellez said. "But we will investigate until all possibilities have been exhausted."

Tellez said authorities have not found any indication that the 10-year-old craft exploded or caught fire while in flight. He said a mechanical failure may have caused the crash.

U.S. experts from the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board arrived Wednesday to help investigate, Tellez said.

Reporter Josh Poltilove contributed to this report.

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