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Guatemala army chief dies in helicopter crash

376036_Guatemala-OrtizThe head of the Guatemalan military’s joint chiefs of staff has died in a helicopter crash near the border with Mexico.

Interior Secretary Maurio Lopez announced that General Rudy Ortiz and four other military officers were killed in the Wednesday crash that left no survivors.

The Bell 206 helicopter went down in a mountainous area of the western province of Huehuetenango.

“They couldn’t land in Ixquisis and instead decided to go to the military base in Las Palmas and in that trajectory the helicopter crashed,” Lopez said.

One of the other victims has been identified as General Braulio Mayen, commander of the military’s Fifth Brigade.

An investigation is underway to uncover the cause of the crash.

President Otto Perez Molina also expressed sympathy with Ortiz’s family, describing his loss as “a tragic death.”

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