(Oaxaca) At least 29 people were killed and 19 others injured when a bus fell into a ravine in Mexico, in a mountainous area of the state of Oaxaca (south), according to a new count by the prosecutor of this region.
“The figures we have 12 hours after the start of the rescue operations are 29 dead and 19 injured,” state prosecutor Bernardo Rodriguez Alamilla told AFP by telephone.
In detail, the prosecutor reported 15 women killed, including two while receiving treatment in hospital, 13 male victims and a child who died.
He had previously given a death toll of 27 and 17 injured.
Among the injured, at least six were unconscious when they were taken to hospital, according to civil protection.
The accident took place around 6:30 a.m. (8:30 a.m. Eastern Time), according to police and prosecutors’ reports. The bus, belonging to a local transport company, had left the previous evening from the capital Mexico City to the village of Santiago de Yosondua (1,500 inhabitants).
PHOTO PROVIDED BY THE MUNICIPAL POLICE OF TLAXIACO, VIA AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
“The preliminary toll is 25 people dead and 17 seriously injured,” said a local police chief who asked not to be identified as he is not authorized to speak to the media.
The accident took place in the territory of the locality of Magdalena Penasco (approximately 3,500 inhabitants), one of the many communities isolated in the mountains served by local companies.
The prosecutor clarified that an investigation had been opened to determine the causes of the accident, initially favoring the track of “the mechanical fault”.
“The driver probably lost control” of the bus which “fell into the ravine more than 25 meters deep,” Oaxaca government security secretary Jesus Romero said at a conference in press.
According to local media, the vehicle suffered a brake problem and went off the road at the end of a bend.
“We deeply regret the accident at Magdalena Penasco,” Oaxaca state governor Salomon Jara wrote in a social media post.
“Our government personnel are already on the ground, participating in the relief operations and providing all our support to the injured. We send a warm greeting and our condolences to the families of the deceased,” the governor added.
Police footage shows the top section of the bus completely destroyed, as rescuers dig through the rubble.
Oaxaca is a very tourist destination, a kind of Mexico in miniature with its beaches, its mountains, the traditions of the Zapotec and Mixtec communities, its capital Oaxaca – one of the most beautiful colonial cities in Mexico – and the pre-Hispanic site of Monte Alban.
Accident series
The state is also one of the poorest in the country, the cradle of many Mexican migrants who left for the United States.
Coach accidents have increased recently in Mexico, a country of nearly 2 million km2.
In May, 13 people traveling in a minibus died after a collision with a truck in the state of Tamaulipas (northeast), bordering the United States.
And on Wednesday, a pileup in the state of Queretaro (center) caused the fire of several vehicles, injuring eight, according to a preliminary report from the authorities.
Faced with these accidents, civil society organizations have called for tougher regulations, such as a ban on trucks to tow two trailers.