Mexico City - Saba:
Two Guatemalan pilots and a Mexican agricultural engineer died on Friday when their plane crashed in southern Mexico near the border with Guatemala while they were releasing sterile flies aimed at stopping the spread of screwworm in livestock.
The Mexican Ministry of Agriculture said in a statement that the Guatemalan plane crashed near Tapachula in southern Mexico, but did not provide a cause for the crash.
According to the German Press Agency, Mexico intensified its efforts to control the spread of the pest last month under pressure from the United States government, which suspended livestock imports from Mexico due to concerns about screwworm.
President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Friday that she did not know when the suspension would be lifted, but that US experts are currently visiting Mexico to assess the country's efforts.
It's worth noting that the screwworm is the larva of the Cochleomyia hominivorax fly, which can invade the tissues of any warm-blooded animal, including humans. The parasite enters the animals' skin, causing severe damage that can be fatal.
| more of (International) |