CANCUN, MEXICO: Nine people have been killed when a plane
belonging to a politician running for governor in a Mexican state
crashed on Sunday, his staff said.
But Roberto Borge, the powerful Institutional Revolutionary Party
(PRI)'s candidate for governor in the state of Quintana Roo, was
not aboard at the time, said spokesman Gabriel Mendicutti.
"There were nine people, unfortunately all dead," said Mendicutti.
"Roberto Borge was not aboard but we have found the
airplane."
Borge is running for office as part of a coalition along with two
smaller parties, the Mexican Green Ecology party (PVEM) and the New
Alliance party (PANAL).
On Sunday Borge campaigned in rural towns in southern Quintana Roo
-- a Mexican state on the eastern side of the Yucatan peninsula --
then flew to the resort town of Cancun, said Mario Castro, a
regional campaign coordinator.
Elections are set for July 4 for state governors in 14 Mexican
states, including Quintana Roo, amid a wave of violence from
battling rival drug cartels.
Borge leads in surveys ahead of the vote, bolstered by the
withdrawal of leftist candidate Gregorio Sanchez, charged with
links to drug traffickers.
Campaign officials did not say if they knew why the airplane
crashed, or if they suspected foul play.