Mexican Navy medical plane crashes into Galveston Bay, six killed

A Mexican Navy Beech King Air 350i conducting a medical transport mission crashed into Galveston Bay on Monday afternoon, killing six of the eight people on board, Mexican and U.S. authorities said. The aircraft went down near the base of the causeway linking Galveston Island to the Texas mainland while approaching Galveston Scholes International Airport in thick fog, roughly 50 miles southeast of Houston.

Flight tracking data from FlightRadar24 show the plane departing Mérida International Airport in Mérida, Yucatán, crossing the Gulf of Mexico and swinging into an approach to Galveston before it disappeared from radar over the bay. Local officials reported the crash at about 3:17 p.m. Central Time. The Mexican Navy identified the aircraft as a Beech King Air 350i, a small twin turboprop commonly used in medical transport operations.

Mexican Navy statements and U.S. agencies said eight people were aboard, including four Mexican Navy personnel and four civilians. Authorities later confirmed that at least six people died, among them a two year old child and the child’s attending doctor. Two people survived. The identities and medical conditions of the survivors have not been released publicly.

U.S. Coast Guard units and local agencies conducted search and recovery operations in Galveston Bay. The Galveston County Sheriff’s Office assisted at the scene and coordinated transport of patients to hospitals. The flight was operating in coordination with the Michou and Mau Foundation, a nonprofit that arranges emergency evacuations for children with severe burns, and was bound for Shriners Children’s Hospital in Galveston to deliver pediatric burn patients for specialized care.

Thick fog at the time of approach has been cited by officials as a factor, but investigators have yet to issue any formal determination of cause. U.S. and Mexican authorities are expected to coordinate an investigation into the crash, drawing on radar tracks, air traffic records and the aircraft’s onboard systems where available. Early casualty counts varied as responders worked on scene, and officials emphasized that information remains preliminary.

The accident underscores policy and operational questions about cross border medical flights, weather minima for visual and instrument approaches at coastal airports, and the safety oversight of ad hoc humanitarian transports. Humanitarian groups and small hospital networks often rely on light turboprop aircraft to move critically ill children across borders because specialized burn centers are sparse and concentrated. Any regulatory push to tighten weather limits or require additional equipment for international medevac flights could increase operating costs for nonprofits and hospital systems that depend on these missions.

In the near term, the loss will reverberate through a tight network of specialized pediatric burn care and the nonprofit community that supports it. Investigators will likely examine whether weather conditions, equipment, approach procedures or human factors contributed to the crash. Authorities have not published a final passenger manifest or detailed the conditions of the survivors. Families of the victims and the organizations involved are awaiting further information as recovery and investigative work continues.