Seven Mexicans, including two minors, are dead and dozens are injured after a bus veered off the highway and overturned in the U.S. state of Mississippi.
“On behalf of the Government of Mexico, I extend my most sincere condolences to the families of the seven people of Mexican origin who unfortunately died in a bus accident in Mississippi,” Mexican Foreign Minister Alicia Bárcena posted on her social media.
Bárcena said that the Mexican Consulate in New Orleans will provide “all necessary assistance” to the victims.
The accident occurred on Saturday when a vehicle from Autobuses Regiomontanos overturned while traveling west on Interstate Highway 20 in Vicksburg, Mississippi. Six people were declared dead at the scene and one person died at Merit Health Hospital in Vicksburg, according to the Mississippi Highway Patrol.
Forty-three people were on board the bus including one driver and one co-driver, the National Transportation Safety Board said Sunday. Mexico’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (SRE) added the bus was heading to Dallas, Texas, from Atlanta, Georgia.
The SRE did not clarify whether the passengers were migrants or tourists. However, Miranda Fernández, a spokeswoman for Autobuses Regiomontanos, told CNN that all passengers go through appropriate immigration controls and must show their passports or visas to enter Mexico or the U.S.
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The Monterrey-based company transports passengers between Mexico and the U.S., where it has several branches.
In total, 17 of the passengers were Mexican.
None of the victims have been publicly identified, according to CBS News. Warren County coroner Doug Huskey told CBS that two of the victims, a 6-year-old Guatemalan boy and his 16-year-old sister, were identified by their mother. However, the SRE said all seven people who were killed were Mexican.
Officials from the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, Mississippi Highway Patrol and the Commercial Transportation Enforcement Division are currently investigating the accident.
“The consulate is in contact with the relatives and funeral homes and will continue to closely monitor the development of the investigation into this tragic event,” the SRE said.
A similarly deadly crash occurred in Florida in May, when a drunk driver sideswiped a bus carrying seasonal farm workers north of Orlando. The crash killed 8 Mexican men and left 40 injured.
With reports from Aristegui Noticias, CNN en Español and La Jornada
