Official: Rivera's plane hit with 'terrible' impact

[NewsCaster]

By Associated Press

MEXICO CITY - The plane carrying Mexican-American  music superstar Jenni Rivera plunged almost vertically from more than 28,000  feet and hit the ground in a nose-dive at a speed that may have exceeded 600  miles per hour, Mexico's top transportation official said Tuesday.

In  the first detailed account of the moments leading up to the crash that killed  Rivera and six other people, Secretary of Communications and Transportation  Gerardo Ruiz Esparza told Radio Formula that the twin-engine turbojet hit the  ground 1.2 miles from where it began falling.

Follow @NBCNewsWorld "The plane practically  nose-dived," he said. "The impact must have been terrible."

Ruiz did not  offer any explanation of what may have caused the plane to plummet, saying only  that "The plane fell from an altitude of 28,000 feet ... It may have hit a speed  higher than 1,000 kph (621 mph)."

Ruiz said the pilot of the plane,  Miguel Perez Soto, had a valid Mexican pilot's license that would have expired  in January. Photos of a temporary pilot's certificate issued by the U.S. Federal  Aviation Administration and found amid the wreckage said that Perez was 78.




NBCNews

[Shola Sholaz]

What a very sad ish at this time of the year.
Why does this happen all the time?