Crew abandons small plane that crashed, burned in Mexico

MEXICO CITY – Mexico’s army says the crew of a small plane ditched their burning craft in the Gulf coast state of Veracruz, carjacked a local man at gunpoint and escaped.

The plane believed to be a Beechcraft King Air caught fire after landing in a field.

Two men jumped out of the plane and forced a ranch employee to drive them away at gunpoint. They later abandoned the man on a highway.

On Sunday, the army said it found 617 pounds (280 kilograms) of cocaine in another, smaller airplane abandoned in the northern state of Durango.

Soldiers detected the plane when it landed and detained two men who apparently were operating the craft.