19 Die in Plane Crash on Maya Ruins Trip

An airplane carrying 16 American tourists and three crew members on a visit to Maya ruins crashed in Yucatan state Wednesday. All aboard died.

Fernando Vargas, director general of Aero Ferinco, said in a telephone interview that the passengers had gotten off the cruise ship Massdam at the Caribbean island of Cozumel and were flying after visiting the Maya ruins of Chichen Itza.

A U.S. State Department official, speaking on condition he not be otherwise identified, said all 16 of the tourists were U.S. citizens, most from the Pacific Northwest. He said not all of their families had been notified.

Vargas said the Czech-built twin-engine LET 410 with 16 passengers, a Mexican guide and two pilots crashed just before 5 p.m. near the village of Tinum shortly after taking off from Chichen Itza on a return trip to Cozumel.

“There were no indications of an emergency,” Vargas said.

The plane was flying at about 500 feet when it began turning onto a course requested by the air traffic controller, he added. “It did not stop turning” and suddenly plunged to the ground.

“We don’t know what happened,” Vargas said, though Mexican federal aviation officials were investigating.

Vargas said pilot Jose Luis Romero had 7,100 hours flying time and co-pilot Aurelio Perez Escalante more than 1,000.

The airline, based on Cozumel, flies in the Yucatan Peninsula, to Guatemala and Cuba. It specializes in chartered air tours.