High-Ranking Official in Mexican Gov't Killed in Fiery Plane Crash

Jet crashes in tony Mexico City neighborhood

Mexico lost the second-highest ranking member of its government and the head the nation's security apparatus as the Learjet he was flying in crashed into a high-priced neighborhood in the capital city.

Juan Camilo Mourino was killed along with a dozen other people, including a former federal prosecutor and security adviser, and a number of aides yesterday evening, when the jet they were flying in crashed on Reforma Ave. in Mexico City, according to the International Herald Tribune. Scores of others were injured during the crash, which turned the fashionable street into a blazing inferno.

Mourino was Mexico's Minister of the Interior, a rising star in President Felipe Calderon's political party, and in charge of the nation's bloody war against the illegal drug trade, according to The New York Times. Mexico's ongoing war on drugs has killed thousands of people this year alone, although there is no indication that foul play was involved with yesterday's crash.

The fires from the crash ignited a number of cars along the street and approximately 2,000 people had to be evacuated from nearby office buildings.

Reuters reported that the Mexican peso fell against other world currencies Wednesday as the markets absorbed news of the crash and economic data regarding the weakening U.S. economy.

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