MEXICO CITY (AP) — At least 17 people have died after the bus they were traveling in crashed in the central Mexican state of Puebla, state authorities said Monday.
All of the dead were migrants, some of them from Venezuela, Colombia and Central America, according to Puebla state interior secretary Julio Huerta.
Huerta pointed out that the accident happened on Sunday on a highway that leads from the southern state of Oaxaca. Apparently the migrants were traveling without proper papers, he said.
Fifteen of the 45 passengers died at the crash site and two others died in hospital. Five people have been hospitalized and are in critical condition, and eight others are believed to have suffered minor injuries.
Huerta stressed that all migrants were adults.
Migrants often use vans and buses to cross Mexico and reach the US border. Because they are often crammed into unsafe, illegal or clandestine means of transport, accidents are not uncommon.
In 2021, a van with migrants on board overturned on a highway near the town of Tuxtla Gutiérrez, killing 56 people.