A small plane carrying a state minister and town mayor from northern Mexico crashed in flames today, Mexican media reported, saying the cause was not immediately clear, according to Reuters. The minister for public works in Coahuila state, Horacio del Bosque, and the mayor of the northern border town of Piedras Negras, Jose Manuel Maldonado, were flying over a dam when what was apparently a six-seater plane went down, Mexican radio and the local Zocalo newspaper said. It was not clear if the accident was due to mechanical failure, heavy rain in the area or whether it could be the result of an attack by drug gangs who are fighting in the area over smuggling routes into Texas.
