Unidentified plane crashes in Corozal; no one found

Up north, a single engine plane believed to be used to transport drugs crash landed early on Thursday afternoon, not far from the Mexican border. The plane is retrofitted to carry cargo and while its origin is from Ecuador, it has Mexican registration. There was no cargo on the Cessna but the stretch of road appears to be used as a frequent landing strip. News Five’s Isani Cayetano reports from San Victor.

Isani Cayetano, Reporting

The broken vestiges of a Cessna single engine, turboprop aircraft, bearing the letters HC-CHZ, remained under tight military guard today where a coterie of aviation officials carefully dismantled what was left of the vessel.  Its nose wheel, as well as the tip of its right wing was extensively damaged when the plane presumably swerved off this crude landing strip before violently coming to rest in a cane field near the outskirts of San Victor.  The village is located less than three miles east of the Mexican border.  At around three o’clock on Thursday afternoon, residents heard the roar of the low-flying aircraft moments before it crash landed on a feeder road.

Voice of: Resident of San Victor

“When we reach there I see the plane there almost about ten to eight feet from the cane field to the road.  The plane, like three-quarter of the plane, was inside the field and the tail you can see it from the road.  Then afterwards the police reach there about five, after two hours the police reach there.”

…and they’ve been there since, processing the scene of an accident they believe involved a Mexican drug plane.  While the characters labeled on the tail of the aircraft indicate that it is of Ecuadorian origin, the identifying letters on the flight deck prove that it is registered in neighboring Mexico.  Superintendent Gualberto Garcia, Officer Commanding Corozal Police Formation:

Gualberto Garcia

Via Phone: Supt. Gualberto Garcia, Officer Commanding Corozal Police

“Initial investigations revealed to us that the plane may have landed sometime about one p.m.  Upon our arrival there were a number of villagers, or civilians rather, around the aircraft and we managed to get control of the aircraft.  Our initial search of the area revealed nothing incriminating, we didn’t find any illegal substance around [or] in the aircraft or around it.”

Despite not finding anything incriminatory, the airplane, according to aviation officials on the scene, had its cabin gutted to allow for the transportation of cargo, leaving room only for a two-member flight crew.   The area, says the owner of the plantation, has been used repeatedly as a landing strip.

Voice of: Resident of San Victor

“The villagers said, because you know here San Victor is a place where a lot of contraband comes in here, so all the contrabandists say that that happened, that plane landed there about four or five times there, usually around that time when that [accident] happened there.  They were loading and unloading but we don’t know who are those guys.”

Speculations are that heavy rains over the past few days were a contributing factor to the crash landing since the road condition has deteriorated in the aftermath of the showers.

Voice of: Resident of San Victor

“Well to me, the road it’s bad right there and they have a big hole right there so what happened [may have contributed to] the plane getting inside the cane field or maybe the pilot lost control and get inside there because you have water inside there in the cane field.  You see the how you call the blade of the plane like it made contact with the rows of cane which maybe killed the motor and it stopped there.”

When it came to a screeching halt the occupants of the aircraft, though we are uncertain whether or not there were any injuries, fled the scene of the accident.  Corozal police are conducting an investigation to determine there whereabouts or if there was any assistance rendered in landing the plane.

Via Phone: Supt. Gualberto Garcia

“We have been speaking to villagers and to persons who live in the area but at this moment we have not had any information with regards to the citing of any vehicle that might have been involved or any persons that might have been involved in the landing of this aircraft.”

The last recorded crash landing of a Mexican drug plane was in November of last year when Miguel Reina Rodriguez and Hector William Velasquez lost their lives in the area of the Belize Zoo. Reporting for News Five, I am Isani Cayetano.