VILLAHERMOSA, Mexico (Reuters) - Guatemala's interior minister died when a helicopter crashed on Friday in bad weather north of the Guatemalan capital, officials said.
All four people on board were killed, including InteriorMinister Vinicio Gomez, Guatemala's presidential spokesmanFernando Barillas told reporters.
"Bad weather caused the accident," he said.
Barillas initially reported that Gomez had been aboard asmall plane, but Vice President Rafael Espada later said it wasa helicopter that had gone down.
The helicopter was travelling to Guatemala City from thenorthern jungle region of Peten, Espada said.
Deputy interior minister, Edgar Umana, also died in thecrash, as did the pilot and co-pilot, Barillas said.
President Alvaro Colom was in Mexico for a regional summit.Espada said he would return to Guatemala on Saturday.
(Reporting by Luis Manuel Lopez in Villahermosa and HerbertHernandez in Guatemala City, editing by Alan Elsner)
