Cargo plane crashes in Mexico; 5 dead

MONTERREY, Mexico (Reuters) - A cargo aircraft crashed late on Tuesday near the airport in the northern Mexican city of Monterrey, killing at least five people, Mexican emergency authorities said.

The Airbus A300 aircraft, operated by privately held AeroUnion, crashed on a road leading into the airport after an aborted landing. Investigators were still trying to determine the cause of the accident on Wednesday morning.

"We can confirm five crew members died, and, tentatively, another person on the ground," said Civil Aviation Director Hector Gonzalez in an interview with the Televisa network.

Emergency services initially reported two people on board the aircraft and three on the ground were killed.

Operations at the Monterrey International Airport, operated by Grupo Aeroportuario del Centro Norte, were normal on Wednesday, according to the aviation authority.

Partially burnt wreckage from the aircraft was visible on the road leading into the airport in an area near several hotels, a Reuters witness reported.

The jet, which was carrying cargo from Mexico City to the wealthy manufacturing city of Monterrey, crashed approximately 1.5 kilometers (1 mile) from the airport.

"We have no reports of mechanical issues ... of anything abnormal," said Gonzalez, adding that the plane's flight data recorders had been recovered.

Prior to the crash AeroUnion operated three A300s, transporting cargo within Mexico as well as to Los Angeles and Chicago in the United States.

(Additional reporting by Armando Tovar and Veronica Gomez in Mexico City; writing by Robert Campbell, editing by Jackie Frank)