Separately, federal officials yesterday said three marines were wounded in a gunfight with suspected members of the Knights Templar drug cartel in the town of Arteaga in the restive state of Michoacan.
The state public security agency said on Twitter that the aircraft went down near the Infiernillo lagoon. The lagoon is near Arteaga but the agency said the incidents were unrelated.
The government of President Enrique Pena Nieto has deployed nearly 10,000 troops and federal police to Michoacan to combat the Knights Templar gang, which had been facing off with vigilante militias.
The authorities are pursuing the cartel's other top leader, Servando "La Tuta" Gomez.