Mexico asks Venezuela to explain plane burning

MEXICO CITY (AP) The Mexican government continued Thursday to seek an explanation from Venezuela about how a Mexican-registered small airplane ended up burned on an improvised runway in the South American country.

Interior Secretary Miguel Angel Osorio Chong said the Venezuelan government told Mexico that authorities there demanded the jet land and then burned the aircraft.

Mexico's Foreign Ministry later said it had learned that the passengers abandoned the plane after it landed and before the authorities destroyed the aircraft.

Mexican officials, though, are wondering whether any Mexican citizens were involved in the incident. Venezuela has not revealed any arrests in the case or the whereabouts of the plane's passengers.

The largest newspapers in the country were reporting that Venezuela's army had taken down the plane.

Maj. Gen. Vladimir Padrino, a top commander of the National Armed Forces of Venezuela, published two photos on his Twitter account on Tuesday showing a small plane charred, with smoke coming out of it in an open green field with a helicopter in the distance.

Padrino said the Hawker jet was forced to interrupt its flight 7 miles (11 kilometers) north of Buena Vista del Meta in the state of Apure, very close to the border with Colombia.

Mexico first asked Venezuela to clarify the incident with its armed forces, sending a diplomatic note on Wednesday.

Venezuela has become a trafficking route for cocaine and other drugs, which are often transported by Mexican drug cartels. The smuggling is often carried out by small planes.