Mon, 00:16 25 Aug 2008 GMT17

 

Guatemalan minister dies in helicopter crash
28 Jun 2008 03:41:39 GMT
Source: Reuters
(Adds details throughout)

VILLAHERMOSA, Mexico, June 27 (Reuters) - Guatemala's interior minister died when a helicopter crashed on Friday in bad weather north of the Guatemalan capital, officials said.

All four people on board were killed, including Interior Minister Vinicio Gomez, Guatemala's presidential spokesman Fernando Barillas told reporters.

"Bad weather caused the accident," he said.

Barillas initially reported that Gomez had been aboard a small plane, but Vice President Rafael Espada later said it was a helicopter that had gone down.

The helicopter was traveling to Guatemala City from the northern jungle region of Peten, Espada said.

Deputy interior minister, Edgar Umana, also died in the crash, as did the pilot and co-pilot, Barillas said.

President Alvaro Colom was in Mexico for a regional summit. Espada said he would return to Guatemala on Saturday. (Reporting by Luis Manuel Lopez in Villahermosa and Herbert Hernandez in Guatemala City, editing by Alan Elsner)
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Firemen transport the body of an American tourist killed in a plane crash in Aldea La Puente, in Guatemala August 24, 2008. Ten people died on Sunday when a single-engine aircraft ...



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