15 killed, 36 injured in Mexico bus crash, most apparently Venezuelan migrants

The accident happened early Tuesday on a highway that runs south toward Oaxaca state. The route is frequently used by migrant smugglers.

Mexico City: A bus carrying mostly Venezuelan migrants crashed into a freight truck Tuesday in central Mexico, killing at least 15 people and injuring 36, local authorities said.

The government of Puebla state did not say how many of the dead were migrants, but presumably most of the casualties were among the bus passengers, and the government said most of them were Venezuelans.

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The accident happened early Tuesday on a highway that runs south toward Oaxaca state. The route is frequently used by migrant smugglers.

Because smugglers often use unsafe vehicles and drivers, cram too many migrants in or try to evade police, accidents involving those vehicles are not uncommon in Mexico.

In July, five Honduran migrants were killed and another 18 injured when the van they were riding in crashed on a road on Mexico’s southern Gulf coast.

In February 17 migrants were killed when the bus they were traveling in crashed in Puebla.

Migrants frequently use trucks and buses to travel through Mexico to reach the US border.

In 2021 a truck carrying migrants overturned on a highway near the southern city of Tuxtla Gutierrez, killing 56 people.