Helicopter carrying film crew crashes in Mexico; music video director dies, 4 others injured

MORELIA, Mexico – Mexican authorities say a government helicopter carrying a crew making a tourism video has crashed into a lake in western Mexico. The video director drowned, while three crew members and a state employee escaped.

Michoacan state prosecutors spokesman Carlos Arrieta says the helicopter struck a wire at an eco-park at Lake Zirahuen and then crashed into the water and sank.

Arrieta says music video director Daniel Segundo died in Tuesday’s accident. The four others on the aircraft were able to get out and were taken to a nearby hospital with no life-threatening injuries.

The crew was filming a lakeside community for a tourism promotion by Michoacan state, which has been ravaged by drug violence. The video was to feature the singers from Mexico’s reality musical talent show “The Academy.”