Mexico City - Mexican President Felipe Calderon congratulated Senator Barack Obama for his triumph in the US presidential election and said he hopes for "a new stage" in relations between the two neighbours.

An official statement that was made public late Tuesday, said Calderon also invited the next US president to visit Mexico "soon" and reiterated his country's commitment "to strengthen and deepen bilateral relations and work in the construction of a better future for the region."

Mexico City - Mexican Interior Minister Juan Camilo Mourino and a presidential adviser on security issues died when a small plane crashed in the Mexican capital, Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard said.

The crash left eight people dead and at least 40 injured, Ebrard said. However, he noted that the authorities could not immediately confirm whether all eight of the dead had been travelling on board the plane.

President Felipe Calderon expressed "enormous sorrow" over the death of his interior minister and close friend.

Mexico City - Was it an accident or was it an attack? Mexican authorities were beginning to investigate the cause of the plane crash that claimed the life of Mexican Interior Minister Juan Camilo Mourino and at least seven other people.

However, it was clear to observers that the death Tuesday night of the man who came second in Mexico's government hierarchy was the hardest blow that President Felipe Calderon has suffered since winning the presidency in late 2006.

Mexico City - Mexican President Felipe Calderon expressed "enormous sorrow" over the death of his interior minister and close friend Juan Camilo Mourino in a plane crash late Tuesday in Mexico City.

With his voice breaking, Calderon recalled that Mourino had been his companion in politics for several years and that they dreamed together of "a new homeland."

Mexico City - Mexican Interior Minister Juan Camilo Mourino and a presidential adviser on security issues died when a small plane crashed in Mexico City, media reports said.

Mourino and Jose Luis Santiago Vasconcelos, a former deputy attorney general and a current adviser to the government of President Felipe Calderon, were returning to the capital from San Luis Potosi on the small plane that crashed Tuesday night, the Mexico City airport control tower confirmed.

The plane was carrying six people - a two-member crew and four passengers - when it crashed in a luxury office area of Mexico City.

Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard said at the crash site that at least three people were killed and five were seriously injured.