Minister's plane crash an 'accident'

A plane crash that killed Mexico's interior minister does not appear to have been caused by sabotage, the government said.

Investigators examining the crash site and the plane's black box had found no evidence of foul play, but US and British teams were called in to help the investigation.

Interior Minister Juan Camilo Mourino, the number two figure in President Felipe Calderon's government, died on Tuesday when the Learjet crashed in Mexico City.

The crash killed all nine aboard, five people on the ground and narrowly missed high-rise office buildings full of workers.

Mr Mourino, a US-trained economist and skilled former lawmaker, was named interior minister in January, taking charge of internal security a year into Mr Calderon's army-led battle against powerful drug cartels.

Jose Luis Santiago Vasconcelos, a leading Calderon adviser in the drug war and former deputy attorney general with years of cartel-fighting experience, also died.

Officials showed reporters radar images of the plane's trajectory as it descended toward the international airport and said they had not found signs of a mid-air explosion or evidence the pilot made emergency calls.

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