Tourist plane carrying 19 crashes in Mexico

MEXICO CITY -- A twin-engine plane carrying 19 people on a tourist flight to Mayan ruins crashed in the state of Yucatan on Wednesday. The airline said some people might have survived.

Some Americans were believed to be aboard when the LET 410 went down about 5 p.m. near the village of Tinum, Laura Cardenas, director of Aero Ferinco, said in a telephone interview.

"We have indications that there are survivors," Cardenas said, but it was not immediately clear how many. State officials initially reported that all 17 passengers and two crew members aboard were killed.

She said the plane was carrying tourists, at least some of them from the United States, on a flight from the Caribbean island of Cozumel to the Mayan ruins of Chichen Itza.

No other details were immediately available on the passengers or cause of the crash.

The airline, based on Cozumel, flies in the Yucatan Peninsula, to Guatemala and Cuba.

According to its Web site, the company "specializes in air tours and expeditions. Its main customers are the major European and American travel agencies operating on the Yucatan Peninsula."