World Nov. 05, 2008 - 12:18PM JST ( 2 )

MEXICO CITY —

Mexican Interior Minister Juan Camilo Mourino died with seven others in a small plane crash in Mexico City, President Felipe Calderon said, paying homage to a friend and colleague.

The 37-year-old minister “was one of my closest collaborators and one of my best and closest friends,” Calderon said in a brief statement to journalists.

The government “will carry out all necessary investigations to find out the causes of the tragedy,” Calderon added.

The executive jet of the interior ministry crashed at 6:40 p.m. on a pedestrian street near the capital’s main Reforma avenue during rush hour traffic.

Mexican government security adviser Jose Luis Santiago Vasconcelos, other senior officials, the pilot and co-pilot, were also killed, reports said.

Some 40 people were injured in the crash, which caused a large explosion and burned some 30 vehicles.

The city’s mayor, Marcelo Ebrard, said five seriously injured people had been transferred to hospitals and that a fire set off by the accident was under control.

“The explosion was enormous, the flames rose higher than the buildings on Reforma,” a witness said.

The cause of the accident was unclear, although experts at the crash site said it was unlikely the plane had been attacked.

Wire reports