EIGHT people have died and 19 others injured after a horror bus crash in Mexico on Christmas Eve.
The packed coach plunged more than 600ft down an embankment at around 5pm local time yesterday in a winding stretch of road in the municipality of Zontecomatlan, in the eastern state of Veracruz.
Shocking images from the scene showed the bus lying on its roof at the bottom of a ravine as rescue teams worked to reach passengers.
State governors said emergency services were continuing rescue and recovery efforts overnight.
“The state government is coordinating the response to a bus accident which occurred in a ravine in Zontecomatlan,” they said.
“At present, 19 injured people are receiving care and have been transferred to Chicontepec and Huayacocotla.
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“Unfortunately, the Public Prosecutor’s Office has confirmed eight deaths. We are continuing with rescue and care work at the site, together with the teams present.”
Local residents were among the first to help victims before emergency crews, civil protection teams, paramedics and security forces arrived.
The bus, operated by the Conexión line, had left Mexico City and was travelling to the town of Chicontepec in Veracruz’s Huasteca region, an area known for its mountains, rivers and tropical landscapes.
It was full at the time of the crash, with many passengers believed to be travelling home for Christmas.
Adults and children are said to be among the dead.
The cause of the crash has not yet been confirmed.
It remains unclear whether the driver, named locally as Carlos Daniel Baez, was among those killed or injured.
The tragedy comes just 10 days after another fatal bus crash in Latin America, when 17 people – including 16 students celebrating their school graduation – were killed in Colombia after their bus plunged 250ft down a steep embankment in the department of Antioquia.
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