Mexican security minister in helicopter accident

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – A helicopter carrying Mexico’s
public security minister, one of President Vicente Fox’s
closest aides, went down on Wednesday and is missing, the
presidential spokesman told local radio.

The minister, Ramon Martin Huerta, who was in charge of
fighting crime in Fox’s government, apparently was traveling in
Mexico state with several other government officials when his
helicopter went down. It was not immediately clear whether any
of the officials were hurt.

Fox’s spokesman Ruben Aguilar told reporters the helicopter
appeared to have come down in the state of Mexico, and said air
force helicopters were searching for it.

One local radio station, citing police sources, said the
helicopter, which left an army base in Mexico City around
midday, had made an emergency landing but the passengers were
unharmed.

Martin Huerta, a former governor of the central state of
Guanajuato, is a close friend of the president.