The 43-year-old Learjet carrying Mexican-American singer Jenni Rivera and six other people, including her publicist, stylist and makeup artist, had been in one previous accident in 2005, according to a Huffington Post report citing the National Transportation Safety Board.
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| REMEMBERING JENNI RIVERA
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The 2005 incident occurred when the Learjet 25 with the number N345MC struck a runway marker while trying to land at an airstrip near Amarillo, TX. The NTSB report describes a malfunction with the fuel system in the wings, resulting in one side of the plane experiencing a loss in balance.
The captain noted that “alignment to runway was off due to right wing” and the report goes on to say, “Subsequently, the airplane exited the left side of the runway striking a runway distance marker,” resulting in substantial damage. No one was injured in the accident.
Seven years later, the same twin-turbojet plane crashed near the town of Iturbide in Mexico’s Sierra Madre Oriental, killing all on board. An investigation into the cause is underway.
“There is nothing recognizable, neither material nor human” in the wreckage found in the state of Nuevo Leon, Transportation and Communications Minister Gerardo Ruiz Esparza told reporters. The impact was so powerful that the remains of the plane “are scattered over an area of 250 to 300 meters. It is almost unrecognizable.”
A mangled California driver’s license with Rivera’s name and picture was found in the crash site debris. The singer’s father, Pedro Rivera, said he had few doubts that she was on the plane. “I believe my daughter’s body is unrecognizable,” he said.