A small plane suspected of carrying hundreds of pounds of illegal drugs from South America landed on a highway in southern Mexico and caught fire, Mexican military officials said Sunday.
Video footage of the scene shows a fire engulfing the plane while on a rural two-lane highway in Quintana Roo state, on the Yucatan peninsula. Black, billowing smoke rises in the air.
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Military officials said further down the highway, troops found a van loaded with 13 bags of cocaine weighing a total of approximately 850 pounds (390 kilograms). Authorities believe the plane was likely carrying the truck. No arrests were made immediately.
The drugs were valued at more than $ 4.9 million (109 million pesos) and would have marked a “significant” loss for criminal organizations, Reuters reported, citing a military statement.
The Mexican station Milenio reported that the plane came from Maracaibo, Venezuela, although that has not yet been confirmed, according to the newspaper.
The Mexican Defense Department said the plane is believed to have originated in South America, but did not give a specific location.
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The plane had been tracked since it entered Mexican airspace, the military said. Two air force planes were dispatched to track the plane, and troops were dispatched to the landing site.
It was unclear whether the plane was making an emergency landing and burst into flames, or whether the drug traffickers started the fire after landing, as is often the case.
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The plane was identified by the Aviation Safety Network website as a decades-old BAe-125 15-seat passenger jet.
Associated Press contributed to this report.
