MEXICO CITY, Sept 11 (NNN-AGENCIES) — At least 18 people died Saturday when the bus they were traveling in collided with a fuel truck in northern Mexico, authorities said.
The accident occurred early in the day at a point where a highway from Ciudad Victoria in Tamaulipas state crosses one from Monterrey in neighboring Nuevo Leon state, according to a statement from the Tamaulipas prosecutor’s office.
It said the 18 victims burned when fuel in the truck exploded.
The bus had left Hidalgo state, in central Mexico, bound for Monterrey.
“As a result of the impact with a container truck,” the statement said, “unfortunately there are 18 deaths so far.”
Prosecutors in the northern border state of Tamaulipas said the crash have been caused by one of the truck’s two tank trailers coming lose.
The collision left both vehicles completely burned. Police photos showed the bus was reduced to a tangle of smoking, charred metal.
Tamaulipas state police initially found nine sets of remains, but by early afternoon prosecutors said nine more had been recovered. The death toll could rise, they said.
The driver of the fuel truck apparently survived and is under investigation.
The semi-truck was towing two tank trailers in tandem. Such double-container freight trucks have been involved in numerous deadly crashes in the past.
Because weight restrictions and safety inspections in Mexico are lax, there have been calls in the past to ban the extremely heavy and unwieldy trucks.
It said an investigation is continuing. — NNN-AGENCIES
