At least five people were killed Monday after a Mexican navy plane crashed in foggy conditions near Galveston, Texas, while carrying a burned child.
According to flight tracking site Flight Radar, the plane was last recorded at 3:01 p.m. local time (9:01 p.m. GMT) over Galveston Bay, near Scholes International Airport.
The plane was participating in a medical mission on behalf of the Michou y Mau Foundation, which treats seriously burned Mexican children.
The Mexican Navy Secretariat said one person was still missing and two others had been rescued alive.
Video footage shared with the AP news agency showed the wreckage of the plane in the water, with witnesses and police seen entering the water to search through the debris.
Sky Decker, a local yacht captain, said he took two police officers to the site of the nearly submerged plane, before jumping aboard and finding a seriously injured woman trapped.
He said: “I couldn’t believe it. She had maybe three inches of air space to breathe.
“And there was jet fuel mixed in the water, really bad fumes. She was really fighting for her life.”
Earlier, the Mexican Navy Secretariat said search and rescue operations were underway in coordination with the U.S. Coast Guard.
Video taken near Scholes International Airport in Galveston shows rescuers, including a dive team, working in dense fog.
In a press release shared on X, the Michou y Mau Foundation sent “our most sincere condolences to the families of the victims of this tragedy”.
