A pilot and co-pilot were killed Tuesday after a gender reveal stunt went awry over Nichupté Lagoon off the east coast of Cancún.
The plane had been hired to release a cloud of either pink or blue announcing the gender of the baby expected by the family in a boat below, but moments after releasing a pink cloud it plunged into the lagoon, The Washington Post reported.
The family’s video of the elaborate reveal captured the plane’s crash near the La Isla shopping complex. A man’s voice can be heard shouting in Spanish, “No way,” with an expletive. “It went into the water.”
The 30-second cellphone video captured by someone on the boat shows the small white plane soaring near the waterfront community of Isla Dorada, in the heart of Cancún’s tourist zone, the Post reported.
According to preliminary data, the Cessna 206 took off from Holbox at 3:15 p.m. en route to Cancún. Navy divers pulled the bodies from the wreckage, and both men have been identified as employees of the Xomex aviation company, Riviera Maya News reported.
Xomex offers commercial, recreational and cargo flights in the Riviera Maya and the country’s southeast area, according to its website.
Meanwhile, authorities told local media that the pilot appeared to be the aircraft’s owner, and Federal Civil Aviation Agency has begun an investigation to determine the cause of the crash.
Cox Media Group
