Mexican Interior Secretary Francisco Blake Mora and seven others died in a helicopter crash near Mexico City on Friday, a government spokeswoman said Friday. "Unfortunately the interior secretary, his collaborators and the helicopter crew were found dead," a visibly shaken Alejandra Sota said. The helicopter carry Blake Mora - a key figure in Mexico's drug war - had been travelling from Mexico City to Cuernavaca, in the neighbouring state of Morelos, Sota said.
A search began after the helicopter disappeared from its projected route, Sota said, without elaborating. Media reports said Blake Mora, 45, had been heading to a meeting of prosecutors. A lawyer by profession, he assumed his post on July 14, 2010, and was the second interior secretary of President Felipe Calderon to die in an air accident.