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By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com
The Mexican Navy helicopter reported missing since last Friday as found Wednesday afternoon , but it is unclear if any survivors were found, according to a news release by the Mexican Secretaria de Marina, the controlling agency for the Mexican navy.
The Eurocopter Panther AS565 helicopter was enroute from the port city of Manzanillo, Colima to its base in Minatitlan in Veracruz state Friday when it was reported missing after failing to make contact with air traffic control in nearby Michoacan state. According the the SEMAR news release the ship captain, two officers and one other navy personnel were aboard. The news release does not mention casualties.
The bird was found 18 kilometers south of Pihuamo municipality in Jalisco state at the top of a mountain. Navy personnel are making preparations to arrive at the crash site.
The area around Pihuamo municipality was the location last May 2011 of several major counternarcotics sweeps by Mexican security forces which yielded quantities of drugs and weapons. Because of the Article 41 clamp on drug war news it is impossible to learn if the area is still a counternarcotics area of operation for Mexico's security forces.
Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com