The former mayor of Aguascalientes, Adrián Ventura Dávila, and three more people died Friday afternoon in a small plane crash in Puerto Vallarta.
Martín Orozco Sandoval, Governor of Aguascalientes, announced through his Twitter account the death of the four people.
“I send my sincere condolences to the families of the passengers and crew of the plane that was heading to Puerto Vallarta, in which Laura Ávila, Manuel Ávila, Captain Marco Polo Esteban and Adrián Ventura, former mayor of Aguascalientes, unfortunately, lost their lives .”
At around 4:00 PM, it was reported that communication with the plane in which they were traveling, a Cesna 205 with registration XB- LBW, was lost.
After the report, personnel from the Jalisco State Civil Protection and Fire Department Unit (UEPCBJ) deployed a search operation between the municipalities of San Sebastián del Oeste and Puerto Vallarta, where the signal from the plane had been detected. The plan was piloted by the ex-mayor.
The agency indicated that the area where it was presumed the plane could have fallen was difficult to access, in a place called Las Palmas de Arriba, in Puerto Vallarta, so they had to travel on foot about three hours in a region where there was a signal.
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By around eight o’clock at night, the discovery of only part of the plane was reported.
“It is split in half, the other part is in a ravine, due to the complexity of the orography and the lack of light, we suspend the search. Tomorrow, Grupo Aéreo Fénix is activated to search for and rescue victims,” explained the authorities.
Ventura Dávila was mayor of Aguascalientes in 2010, replacing the elected municipal president Gabriel Arellano, who left office to run for the state government.