Authorities work to remove a passenger bus that plunged off a highway killing several people, in Tepic, Mexico, on August 3,2023. REUTERS/Christian Ruano
MEXICO CITY — At least 17 people died in western Mexico when a passenger bus plunged off a highway into a ravine in the early hours of Thursday, a state official said, adding that 22 more had been injured but were in a stable condition.
The rescue has been “extremely difficult”, said Jorge Benito Rodriguez, the security and civil protection secretary for Nayarit state, as the ravine was some 50 meters (164 ft) deep.
Fourteen adults and three children were killed, he said, adding it was not clear what had caused the bus, carrying about 40 passengers towards Tijuana, to go off the road.
Earlier on Thursday, Nayarit’s Civil Protection and Firefighters had shared photos of ambulances lining the highway and uniformed officials in the ravine below, as first respondents worked to move the passengers from the site.
The bus, part of the Elite passenger line, crashed near Barranca Blanca on the highway outside state capital Tepic, the officials said.
A source from Nayarit’s firefighting service said six Indian citizens had been aboard the bus.
Neither the bus company nor Mexico’s migration institute immediately responded to a request for comment.
Just last month, another bus crash in the southern state of Oaxaca left 29 people dead, and in February, another bus carrying migrants from South and Central America crashed in central Mexico, killing 17.
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