At least 29 dead as bus crashes into ravine in Mexico
A bus has crashed into a ravine in southern Mexico, killing at least 29 people and injuring another 20, state officials say. Photo: AAP
A passenger bus has lost control and veered off a road and into a 23-metre deep gully in southern Mexico, killing at least 29 passengers.
The crash occurred on Wednesday in the largely indigenous Mixteca region of the southern state of Oaxaca.
The state’s interior secretary Jesus Romero said 27 people had died in the crash, including an 18-month-old toddler.
He said about 20 people were injured in the accident, some seriously.
His office later said the death toll had increased to 29 after two victims died from their injures in hospital.
Romero said the bus driver apparently lost control of the vehicle and plunged into the gully.
“It appears that a lack of skill and tiredness caused the accident,” Romero told a local television station.
Photos distributed by police suggested the bus had flipped over, totally crushing the passenger compartment.
The bus set out from Mexico City to carry passengers to a number of tiny, remote mountain villages in the impoverished Mixteca region.
The route, and the possessions, bundles and baskets strewn amid the wreckage, suggested the victims were people who worked in manual labour in the capital and were returning to their hometowns.
