Mariano Rajoy escapes crash unharmed

It was an awful scare for Spain´s opposition leader Mariano Rajoy when the helicopter he boarded Thursday crashed and fell on its side during take off in the municipality of Móstoles outside Madrid. Rajoy, leader of the Popular Party, was helped out of the chopper (above). He said he only hurt his finger. A visibly shaken Esperanza Aguirre, the president of the Community of Madrid who was riding with him, also escaped unharmed. "We could have been killed but we are fine," she told reporters according to EFE News Agency.

Rajoy, a very vocal critic of Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Zapatero Rodríguez, was visiting a special police brigade installation and boarded the chopper outside a bullfighting ring to take an air tour of the municipality. Móstoles Mayor Estebán Parro was also uninjured but the pilot of the craft and a television cameraman from the Antenna 3 network were taken to the hospital with slight injuries.

The crash is under investigation.