Plane carrying 4 people missing in Presidio area

Avalanche staff

A plane carrying three government officials — one of them former Marfa Mayor Jake Brisbin Jr. — was reported to have vanished late Monday in a mountainous area near Ojinaga, Mexico.

Reports this morning were conflicting: Some said the plane’s transponder had been found, but others said that wreckage had been found about 60 miles south and west of Presidio.

A spokeswoman for Presidio County Judge Jerry Agan said the plane’s emergency locator transmitter was heard for about 20 minutes overnight, then went dead. She said no wreckage had been found as of 10:30 a.m. today.

Also reported to be passengers on the plane were International Boundary and Water Commission Chairman Carlos Marin of the United States, Mexico’s water commission chairman, Arturo Herrera, and the pilot.

The propeller-driven chartered Cessna 421 took off from El Paso International Airport about 10 a.m. Monday. The group was scheduled to fly over Mexican airspace before it was to land Monday afternoon in Presidio, said IBWC spokeswoman Sally Spener.

The plan was reported missing around 6:30 p.m. Monday.

Brisbin, Marin and Herrera planned to inspect the Luis Leon Dam on the Rio Conchos, which flows into the Rio Grande upstream from Presidio, and to check out flooding along the Rio Grande.

Authorities in the U.S. said this morning that the Mexican government has personnel looking for the plane and its passengers, but the area being searched is rough mountain terrain.

Various television stations in El Paso had reported earlier today that the wreckage had been found, but Presidio County officials said that was not the case.

Brisbin, one of the passengers, is well-known in the Big Bend region: After serving as Marfa mayor and Presidio County judge, in 199 he was named executive director of the Rio Grande Council of Governments, which serves the region stretching from Alpine to Las Cruces, N.M. He also was owner and CEO of the Marfa TV Cable Co. Brisbin attended Trinity University, St. Mary’s University and Sul Ross State University.

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