Nineteen people were killed and six others were injured when a bus crashed into a detached semi-trailer on a highway in the central state of Zacatecas, Mexico.
The passenger bus was traveling from the Pacific coast state of Nayarit to the northern border city of Ciudad Juárez when the accident occurred early on Saturday morning.
The bus, operated by Omnibus de México, was approaching mile marker 74 on the Zacatecas-Aguascalientes highway when it collided with the back of a trailer carrying corn that had come loose from the tractor truck.
The bus careened off the highway and rolled down a ravine, as seen in images shared on social media.
First responders and security personnel — including soldiers and members of the National Guard — arrived on the scene and sifted through the wreckage looking for survivors, but the damage to the bus was considerable.
The six injured passengers were being treated at hospitals in the city of Zacatecas on Monday.
🚨 Tragedia en Zacatecas
Autobús cae a barranco tras choque con tractocamión, dejando al momento 24 muertos y varios heridos. Las autoridades trabajan para restablecer el tránsito en la autopista Zacatecas-Aguascalientes. #Zacatecas #Aguascalientes pic.twitter.com/h56OvNWUgZ— Contrapropuesta Mx (@ContraProMx) October 26, 2024
In a post to social media, Zacatecas Governor David Monreal said he ordered the local Health Ministry, Public Works Ministry and Public Security Ministry to attend to the matter “on a permanent basis.”
Monreal said his administration had established two hotlines to manage information about the injured and the deceased, while also declaring that the state Attorney General’s Office (FGJE) had opened a criminal investigation into the accident.
According to Reuters, the FGJE said it was “carrying out investigations to arrest the driver” of the tractor-trailer.
State authorities reported an initial death toll of 24 on Saturday before revising the final count to 19. By Sunday afternoon, authorities had confirmed the identities of 17 of the 19 victims, according to the newspaper Express Zacatecas, matching the names on the bus’s passenger list. The Zacatecas State Commission for Victims’ Assistance was lending attention to the families of the dead and injured.
Express Zacatecas also reported that experts with the National Guard had confirmed that the wayward tractor-trailer had caused the accident, coinciding with the conclusions of the initial forensics investigation.
Zacatecas authorities are working with officials in neighboring states to identify the driver and the owner of the tractor-trailer involved in the accident.
With reports from The El Paso Times, Reuters, Express Zacatecas and CNN en Español
What’s going to happen when they identify the owner of the truck/trailer? I doubt if the families of the victims will see any compensation. Over a year ago a run away truck dumped a load of heavy rocks on an expat woman who was standing on the sidewalk. She was badly injured and is still dealing with medical issues and sky rocketing bills. A lawyer has been working over a year to get some compensation from the trucking company, which will most likely never happen. This is a common issue in Mexico which the new president should address.