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MEXICO CITY — Three Marines were killed and two wounded after a reconnaissance helicopter crashed in the Gulf state of Tabasco, the Mexican Navy said Saturday.
The Navy said in a statement that the Eurocopter had crashed during an aerial surveillance patrol. A video posted on social media showed what appeared to be a small, unarmored chopper that spun near the town of Frontera, Tabasco, and then crashed.
The Navy said the cause of the crash was under investigation.
The accident comes two days after officials admitted fuel shortages caused another Navy helicopter crash that killed 14 Marines in July.
On Thursday, the Attorney General’s Office reported that the chopper ran out of fuel after an operation to capture drug lord Rafael Caro Quintero.
The Black Hawk crashed on July 15 in Los Mochis, a city in the state of Sinaloa near Mexico’s Pacific coast, hours after Marines captured Caro Quintero in the mountains.
Caro Quintero was wanted for extradition to the United States for the murder of Drug Enforcement Administration agent Kiki Camarena in 1985. The extradition process continues.
In a statement, the Attorney General’s Office said an investigation had ruled out the possibility that the helicopter was shot down in the attack, and an analysis of the aircraft’s flight recorder manufacturer concluded it had run out of fuel.
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