Political Power Couple Killed in Christmas Eve Helicopter Crash

Martha Erika Alonso had been sworn in as Puebla's first female governor just 10 days ago
By Polly Davis Doig,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 25, 2018 6:38 AM CST
Political Power Couple Killed in Christmas Eve Helicopter Crash
Emergency rescue personnel, the army and police at the scene of a helicopter crash where Puebla Gov. Martha Erika Alonso and her husband, Rafael Moreno Valle, a former Puebla governor, died near Puebla City, on Monday, Dec. 24, 2018. The political power couple died Christmas Eve in the crash.   (AP Photo/Pablo Spencer)

On Dec. 14, Martha Erika Alonso was sworn in as the first female governor of the Mexican state of Puebla, a job previously held by her husband, Rafael Moreno Valle. Just 10 days later, the political power couple were dead, killed in a Christmas Eve helicopter crash just minutes after takeoff in Puebla city, reports CNN. "When the aircraft was in flight some three nautical miles from the Puebla airport, it suffered an apparent failure which hasn't been determined yet," says Public Security and Civil Protection Secretary Alfonso Durazo. The pilot, co-pilot, and an unnamed fifth passenger were also killed in the 2:40pm crash. Alonso won a closely-contested race for governor in July, notes the BBC; Moreno was a senator. (More Puebla stories.)

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