Mexican rescue crew killed as helicopter hits powerlines

A Mexican rescue crew met with a terrible end earlier this week when its helicopter became entangled in powerlines during a search for a missing hiker, causing the craft to plummet earthward and explode.

The disastrous mishap occurred near Mexicali, in the state of Baja California, after the team of four finally extricated the dead body of a young female hitchhiker following a 20 hour search, La Voz reports.

But more tragedy was to follow, as the chopper, carrying two state police officers and two volunteers, collided with the powerline.

Video of the crash appears to show the tail rotor clipping the line and dislodging, which sends the craft into a listing spin. What seem to be its landing skids fly off as the chopper falls back through the lines, losing power and dropping like a stone into an arroyo below.

Moments later, an oily ball of smoke and flame emerges from behind the ridge.

Police officers and pilots Jorge Alberto Zavala Martínez and Captain Noé Carrasco Cruz, as well as volunteers Roberto Carlos Munguía Medina and Roberto Caloca de Rescate Aguiluchos all perished in the crash.

Precisely what killed the hitchhiker, 25-year-old Karen Violeta, who was trekking to Sentinel Hill with a group of five friends, is yet to be determined.