Six dead in Mexico prosecutor's office plane crash

A small plane owned by the Mexican federal prosecutor's office crashed shortly after takeoff in northern Mexico, killing three agents and three crew members, the attorney general said.

In a statement, Attorney General Jesus Murillo Karam said the Beechcraft King Air 300 hit the ground on Tuesday, 10 minutes after taking off in the state of Zacatecas at around noon, and the cause of the crash is under investigation.

The three officials had been sent to the state's capital, also called Zacatecas, on Monday to detain three suspected members of the Zetas drug cartel.

After the suspects were jailed, the three agents took a flight bound for Mexico City late Monday but their plane returned to the airport due to "mechanical failures," Murillo Karam said. They waited until the next day to take their fateful flight.

"The cause of the incident is unknown for now," Murillo Karam said, adding that the civil aviation department is leading the investigation with the support of his office.

The attorney general said he sent a senior prosecutor specialised in organized crime, the head of the investigative police and five experts to Zacatecas.