Mexico’s interior minister, Jose Francisco Blake Mora, was killed in a helicopter crash Friday, the government said.

The Super Puma helicopter went down in the Xochimilco area south of Mexico City, government spokeswoman Alejandra Sota said.

Also killed in the crash were Undersecretary for Legal Affairs and Human Rights Felipe Zamora and the ministry’s press office chief, Jose Alfredo Garcia, she said.

In all, nine people perished — seven passengers and two crew members, she said.

In July 2010, Mexican President Felipe Calderon appointed Blake Mora to the post that oversees security efforts against drug cartels in Mexico. That battle has cost thousands of lives.

Before becoming interior minister, Blake Mora was an attorney from Baja California state who was chief of staff to the state government from 2007 until July 2010. Previously, he was a councilman in Tijuana, as well as a state and federal congressman.

The helicopter crashed while traveling between Mexico City and the Mexican state of Morelos south of the city, officials said.

At a news conference, Sota confirmed there were no survivors and said the president met with Blake Mora’s widow. Blake Mora was 45.

Also killed were Diana Ayton Miriam Sanchez, a technical secretary; media spokesman Jose Alfredo Garcia; and three members of the air force: Basio Felipe Cortés, Pedro Ramon Becerra Escobar and Jorge Luis Juarez Gomez.

Ironically, Blake Mora’s last writing in his Twitter account refers to an accident suffered by a predecessor who died in November 2008.

“Today we remember Juan Camilo Mourino three years after his departure, a human being who worked on building a better Mexico,” Blake Mora says in a tweet posted on November 4.

Mourino died when his plane, which was returning to Mexico City after a tour of work in the state of San Luis Potosi, crashed near the intersection of the Mexico City’s Periferico beltway and its grand boulevard, the Paseo de la Reforma.

Former Interior Secretary Santiago Creel reacted to the news on Twitter by saying: “I’m sorry the accident. My prayers for Francis Blake and the other crew are found safe and sound.”

Blake Mora succeeded Fernando Gomez Mont, who resigned as Calderon reorganized his Cabinet. A senior presidential adviser, Patricia Flores Elizondo, also resigned.

At the time, Gomez Mont said: “Currently, the country is facing challenges, but I am certain that us citizens, political actors and government have the potential, the duty and the will to surpass them.”

CNN’s Mariano Castillo and Michael Martinez contributed to this report.