Five soldiers die in Mexico plane crash

Five soldiers died on Wednesday when the Mexican air force plane they were travelling in crashed at the Monterrey airport, a spokesman for the National Security Council said.

Alejandro Poire announced that the five air force troops lost their lives in a "regrettable accident" involving an Antonov aircraft of the 301st Aerial Squadron around 2:30 pm in the northern metropolis.

The spokesman, however, said that normal operations had resumed at the airport in Monterrey, the capital of Nuevo Leon state.

Poire said that President Felipe Calderon expressed his condolences to the relatives of the dead.

Milenio Television, which broadcast images of a big column of black smoke emanating from the crash site, reported that the aircraft had just taken off when it plunged to the ground and burst into flames.

The crash spurred the immediate mobilization of rescue teams to search for survivors, an effort that proved to be fruitless.

In April, a commercial cargo plane crashed minutes after taking off from the Monterrey airport, killing six people.