MEXICO CITY, Mexico: A powerful collision between a double-decker bus and a truck left 19 people dead and 22 injured in northwestern Mexico on Tuesday, said the authorities.
“Nineteen lifeless bodies have been counted,” attorney general of Sinaloa state, Sara Quinonez, said in a video posted on social media. The authorities said that it would take time to identify the remains.
Officials were seen inspecting the charred wreckage of the passenger bus that was traveling from the city of Guadalajara in the western state of Jalisco to Los Mochis in Sinaloa.
A truck and a bus – carrying nearly 50 people – collided head-on before bursting into flames, Roy Navarrete, director of civil protection in Sinaloa, told a news conference.
Fatal traffic accidents are common in Mexico, often due to high speed, poor vehicle condition or driver fatigue.
Truck accidents have also increased on the country’s highways.
In one of the worst accidents in recent years, at least 29 people were killed in July 2023 when a passenger bus veered off a mountain road and plunged into a gorge in the southern state of Oaxaca.
Traffic accidents are the leading cause of death among migrants making the unsafe overland journey to the United States.
