A film producer was killed on Tuesday when a government-owned helicopter crashed into a lake in western Mexico while filming for a video clip, local authorities said on Wednesday. Four other people on board the helicopter were injured.
The accident happened at around 11:15 a.m. local time on Tuesday when the aircraft’s rotor blades became entangled with zip lines that cross Lake Zirahuén. The mountain lake is located near the town of Santa Clara del Cobre and is about 18 miles (30 kilometers) east of Uruapan in the western state of Michoacán.
The government-owned Bell 407 helicopter was carrying two government employees and a film crew of three which was making aerial shots for a video clip which was to feature a singer from reality musical talent show “The Academy.” The people on board the chopper were not employees of TV Azteca, which airs the show, but of the Azteca 360 Management production company.
A brief statement from the Michoacán governor’s office said Daniel Segundo, an A&P Media Records producer, was confirmed to have been killed in the accident. Authorities said Segundo’s body was pulled out from the water about two hours after the helicopter went down.
Also on board the chopper was pilot Enrique Barragan Gutierrez, co-pilot Carlos Vela Cervantes and film crew members Pablo Gabriel Angulo Cazarez and Luis Fernando Gutierrez. They were all taken to the Civil Hospital in the city of Patzcuaro after surviving the crash and their conditions were not believed to be life-threatening.
The video clip was intended to promote the state’s tourism, the governor’s office said.
