Jenni Rivera dies in plane crash in northern Mexico

Mexican-American singer Jenni Rivera has died in a plane crash in northern Mexico, her father has confirmed.

Pedro Rivera, flanked by his two sons, told Mexican TV that all seven of those people on board the plane, including two pilots, had died.

Officials earlier said they had found wreckage believed to be that of the singer’s Learjet in Nuevo Leon state.

Jenni Rivera, born in California in 1969 to Mexican parents, has sold more than 15 million records of Norteno music.

She is a judge in the popular television programme La Voz (The Voice).

“Everyone was lost,” Jenni Rivera told Telemundo television.

Civil aviation chief Alejandro Argudín told Mexican media that the plane had been “totally destroyed” and the wreckage scattered over a wide area.

It was not clear what caused the crash.

Jenni Rivera had performed in the northern city of Monterrey on Saturday and was travelling to the city of Toluca, outside Mexico City, when the plane disappeared, officials said.

A spokesman for Nuevo Leon’s government said the plane had left Monterrey in the early hours of Sunday and aviation authorities lost contact with it about 10 minutes later.

It had been scheduled to arrive in Toluca about an hour later.