EIGHT people were killed and 19 others injured after a horror bus crash in Mexico on Christmas Eve.
The packed bus plunged more than 600 feet down an embankment around 5 p.m. yesterday afternoon, local time, on a winding stretch of highway in the municipality of Zontecomatlán, 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 rescuers worked to reach the passengers.
State governors said emergency services continued rescue and recovery efforts overnight.
“The state government coordinates the response to a bus accident that occurred in a ravine in Zontecomatlán,” they said.
“Currently 19 injured people are receiving care and have been transferred to Chicontepec and Huayacocotla.
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“Unfortunately, the Public Ministry has confirmed eight deaths. We continue with the rescue and care work at the scene, together with the teams present.”
Local residents were among the first to help the victims before emergency teams, civil protection teams, paramedics and security forces arrived.
The bus, operated by the Conexión line, had left Mexico City and was headed to the town of Chicontepec, in the Huasteca region of Veracruz, an area known for its mountains, rivers and tropical landscapes.
It was full at the time of the accident and many passengers are believed to have been traveling home for Christmas.
It is said that among the dead there are adults and children.
The cause of the accident has not yet been confirmed.
It is unclear whether the driver, identified locally as Carlos Daniel Báez, was among the dead or injured.
The tragedy comes just 10 days after another deadly bus accident in Latin America, when 17 people – including 16 students celebrating their school graduation – died in Colombia after their bus fell 80 meters down a steep embankment in the department of Antioquia.
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