Two pilots who survived a deadly plane crash in Colorado were being treated for serious injuries in hospital late yesterday.

The men, both Mexican, were injured when their private jet crashed while trying to land in the wealthy mountain town of Aspen.

One was co-piloting along with 54-year-old Sergio Carranza Brabata of Mexico, who was killed. It was not clear who was in control of the plane when it crashed.Officials say the flight originated in Mexico.

The Aspen airport is challenging because it is surrounded by mountains, forcing pilots to descend sharply. The plane went off the right side of the runway, flipped over and burst into flames, said a spokesman for the local sheriff’s office.

“The injuries were traumatic in nature, but they were not thermal,” he said. “So the fire never reached inside the cabin as far as we can tell.”

The plane was a Canadair CL-600, a mid-sized private jet, registered to the Bank of Utah in Salt Lake City.