MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexican-American singer Jenni Rivera is feared dead after Mexican authorities said they found the wreckage of a plane she was traveling in on Sunday.
A spokesman for the state government of Nuevo Leon said investigators had found the remains of Rivera's Lear jet, which disappeared off the radar 62 miles from the northern city of Monterrey at about 3:30 a.m. local time/4.30 a.m. EST.
Alejandro Argudin, director general of Mexico's civil aviation authority, said there were no survivors at the crash site in the municipality of Iturbide, south of Monterrey.
Gerardo Ruiz Esparza, minister of transportation and communications, told Mexican television so little remained of the plane that he could not yet confirm Rivera's death.
"This is what's so regrettable, that it was so badly destroyed that there's nothing recognizable," he said.
A special investigation would be needed to identify the remains of the plane and its passengers, the minister added.
Rivera was heading for the city of Toluca in central Mexico after a concert in Monterrey on Saturday. The singer was one of five passengers on the plane that also carried two pilots.
Born in Long Beach, California, to immigrant Mexican parents, Rivera has sold some 15 million records in her career and won several awards and received Grammy nominations, her website said.
A mother of five, renowned as an exponent of the Nortena and Banda musical styles, Rivera turned 43 in July, according to Mexican media reports.
(Writing by Dave Graham; Editing by Bill Trott and Philip Barbara)