U.S. probes crash of Mexican drone in Texas

EL PASO, Texas - Federal authorities are investigating why a Mexican drone was in Texas airspace and what caused the unmanned surveillance aircraft to crash into a backyard in El Paso.

The crash occurred after sunset Tuesday behind a house in a former agricultural area, the El Paso Times reported Friday. Police Det. Mike Baranyay said no one was injured.

U.S. officials did not release the exact location of the crash. The neighborhood is separated from Mexico by the Rio Grande, floodlights, the 15- to 18-foot tall border fence, a chain-link fence, a line of poles with surveillance cameras and a highway, according to the newspaper.

"We responded to a concerned citizen's call and recovered a small Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), which belonged to the Government of Mexico (GOM)," Jenny L. Burke, a spokeswoman for Homeland Security, said in a statement.

Keith Holloway, spokesman for the National Transportation Safety Board, described the drone as a mini orbiter unmanned aerial vehicle.

"We are collecting data about the crash. We don't have the aircraft because it was returned to its owner," Holloway said.

Baranyay said the Border Patrol handed the drone back to Mexican officials at one of the international bridges.

Officials at the Mexican consul's office in El Paso did not immediately comment. - AP