Authorities announced Thursday that at least 18 people were killed and at least 23 were injured after a bus carrying foreign migrants and locals crashed down a canyon in northwestern Mexico.
Three youngsters were among those killed, according to the Nayarit state civil protection office.
The bus was carrying roughly 40 individuals from Mexico City to northwestern Tijuana, which borders San Diego and is where many migrants attempt to seek asylum in the United States.
“Most of the passengers are foreigners and originating from countries such as India, the Dominican Republic and from the African continent, among others, some of whom were heading to Tijuana to cross into the United States,” the civil protection agency said.
According to the agency, the motorist was apprehended on suspicion of speeding, which caused him to lose control and plummet down an embankment near the state capital Tepic.
In Mexico, fatal road accidents are prevalent, mainly caused by excessive speeds, poor vehicle conditions, or driver weariness.
Such accidents are a leading cause of mortality among migrants making the perilous overland route to the United States.
Migrants from Venezuela, Colombia, and Central America were killed in a bus crash in February between the southern state of Oaxaca and central Puebla.
near July, a passenger bus careened off a mountain road and into a ravine near Oaxaca, killing at least 29 people.
In December 2021, a trailer carrying 160 migrants collided with a pedestrian bridge on a highway in the southern state of Chiapas, killing 56 people, the majority of whom were Guatemalans.
