A bus accident in the State of Nayarit in western Mexico left at least 18 people dead and more than 30 others injured, including nearly a dozen children.
The Nayarit prosecutor’s office said the incident occurred on Saturday night close to a highway that connects the capital city of Tepic to a well-known tourist destination, Puerto Vallarta. The bus dropped roughly 50 feet into a ravine, according to Reuters.
Pedro Nunez, a civil protection official, explained the bus was en route from Guadalajara to the beach town of Guayabitos when the accident occurred, per Republic World. All on board the bus were Mexican nationals, Nunez added.
The Security and Civil Protection Ministry of Nayarit published images of rescuers removing victims from the rubble. Seven men and 11 women died during the crash.
There were also 33 people injured, at least 11 of whom were minors, according to Reuters. The injured were transported to three area hospitals.
“From the first moment, we have worked in a coordinated manner with the various federal and state authorities to provide immediate attention to victims,” the prosecutor’s office said, per Reuters.
Local authorities reported that firefighters and paramedics worked through the night to rescue the injured bus crash victims from the wreckage. An investigation into the cause of the accident is ongoing.
The most common mode of transportation in Mexico is by bus, and bus accidents are reportedly becoming more frequent.
In November of 2021, a bus carrying tourists on a religious pilgrimage lost its brakes and crashed into a building in the State of Mexico, killing 19 and injuring 32 others, per NBC News.
Last December, another bus crash in the State of Nayarit took the lives of 15 people and injured 47. The bus flipped over while traveling along a rural road on a return trip from Guayabitos, according to ABC News.
In February 2023, 17 people died in a bus crash in the State of Puebla in Central Mexico, as Fox News reported.
While the cause of the most recent crash is unclear, ABC News reported that previous bus accidents in Mexico have been attributed to poor maintenance of rental buses, bad roadway conditions, unfavorable weather conditions, or speeding.