Bus crash in Mexico's Oaxaca kills 18
Oct 06, 2023
Oaxaca [Mexico], October 7 : A bus crash in the Mexican state of Oaxaca killed 18 people on Friday, according to local authorities, CNN reported.
The local authorities said that most of the passengers were migrants.
Among the victims were three children and two women, all of whom are from Venezuela and Haiti, the Oaxaca state attorney general said. At least 27 people were injured and transported to nearby hospitals.
Pictures posted by authorities on Facebook show the large bus flipped over and heavily damaged on a curve of the mountainous Oaxaca-Cuacnopalan highway, as per CNN.
The accident's cause is being investigated. It took place at 5 am local time.
This comes following the deaths of at least ten Cuban migrants, including a child, on Sunday, when the truck they were travelling in overturned in southern Mexico, according to local authorities.
Venezuela and Haiti are sources of large numbers of migrants travelling northward, fleeing insecurity and economic crisis at home, as per CNN.
US and Mexican officials have struggled to respond to the arrivals, with Washington putting increasing pressure on Mexico City to shoulder more responsibility for people crossing its territory.
Food shortages and limited access to health care have driven more than 7.7 million people from Venezuela alone - a scale of displacement that outpaces Ukraine, where there's an active war, as per CNN.