Beachgoer killed after plane carrying skydivers crash-lands

A person stands near the wreckage of a small plane that crashed into a sea turtle preservation site at Bacocho beach, in Oaxaca state (via REUTERS)

A plane carrying four Canadian skydivers made an emergency landing on a beach in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca on Sunday, the state civil defense’s office said, resulting in the death of a 62-year-old man who was on the beach at the time.

The plane was forced to land on a populated section of Bacocho beach in the popular Pacific resort town of Puerto Escondido, the office said in a statement, adding the victim’s wife, who had been on the beach alongside him, was unharmed.

Footage from Puerto Global showed the damaged aircraft on the beach having crashed into what it said was a turtle rescue centre.

Oaxaca in Mexico (Getty Images)

The civil defense statement did not give more details on the landing nor the identities of those involved, noting that investigations were ongoing. No one else on the beach was injured, it said.

Those who had been on the aircraft, including the four Canadian skydivers aged between 35 and 60 and a 40-year-old Mexican man, were removed from the plane and taken for medical treatment, the statement added, saying they were in stable condition.

State Governor Salomon Jara said in a post on X that resources were being mobilized to help those the injured who had been on the plane.

“To the family of the person who died, we will provide all the necessary support and accompany them in the face of their irreparable loss,” he said. (Reporting by Natalia Siniawski; Editing by Toby Chopra)