The worst of Friday’s earthquake came well after the tremors stopped.
A military helicopter carrying officials assessing damage crashed, 13 people on the ground were killed, according to the Associated Press and Reuters.
Five women, four men and three children were killed at the crash site and another person died later at the hospital, the Oaxaca state prosecutor’s office said in a statement, the AP reported. Everyone on board the chopper survived.
Mexico’s Interior Department said that the helicopter was carrying Secretary Alfonso Navarrete and Oaxaca Gov. Alejandro Murat, who were evaluating damage from the earthquake. The helicopter crashed on top of two vans in an open field while trying to land in Santiago Jamiltepec on Friday, officials told Reuters.
The earthquake was first measured as a magnitude 7.5 and later lowered to having a magnitude 7.2 by the U.S. Geological Survey.
The epicenter was found along the Pacific coast near Santiago Ixtayutla.
