At least 13 people are dead and 25 injured in Chiapas after a bus crashed Monday morning on a stretch of highway near the city of Comitán.

Civil Protection director of emergencies Elías Morales Rodríguez told the newspaper Milenio that the accident occurred around 5 a.m. when the bus, which belongs to Transporte de Pasaje “La Angostura,” crashed into a “fixed object” on the road in the municipality of La Trinitaria. Among the injured were 11 women, nine men, and five children.

The object was apparently a concrete wall at the side of the highway. According to one report, the bus’s brakes failed.

“It’s a lamentable accident,” he said. “We are checking to see if any of the injured require emergency-flight transport.”

The bus was operating between Tuxtla Gutiérrez and Motizintla, traveling on the La Trinitaria–Chimic section of the Comitán–Ciudad Cuauhtémoc highway.

Various rescue personnel spent the morning working to remove passengers from the vehicle and transferring the dead to a nearby facility for forensic investigation. The wounded were transported by emergency personnel to various hospitals in nearby Comitán.

Source: Milenio (sp), El Universal (sp)