Tour Bus Plunges Into Ravine In Western Mexico, Killing 21

[News_Editor]

Tour bus plunges into ravine in western Mexico, killing 21 < br />

2012-07-21 06:48:51 GMT+7 (ICT)

CHAPALILLA, MEXICO (BNO NEWS) -- A tour bus carrying several families veered off a bridge and plunged down a ravine in western Mexico, killing at least 21 people and injuring dozens more, local authorities said on Friday. It follows a deadly bus accident less than a month ago.

The accident occurred on early Friday morning at the Chapalilla-Tequepexpan bridge on the Tepic-Guadalajara highway, near the small town of Chapalilla in the state of Nayarit. The bus was carrying several families from the northern state of Chihuahua who were on a vacation trip to the Pacific Coast.

Officials said the bus driver lost control of the vehicle, rolled over several times, and plunged some 100 meters (330 feet) into a ravine next to the highway. The Express Oro Tours bus was carrying about 50 people, of whom 21 were killed and 29 others were injured, including eleven children who were seriously injured.

Local police said the bus was coming from Chihuahua and was heading toward the popular touristic beach resort Rincon de Guayabitos in Nayarit. The cause was not immediately clear, although investigators suspect the driver may have been speeding or may have fallen asleep at the wheel.

Deadly bus crashes and other road accidents occur regularly in Mexico, killing hundreds of people a year.

Late last month, a total of 32 people were killed and sixteen others were injured when a bus carrying supporters of leftist political parties overturned and plunged into a 300 meter (984 feet) deep ravine between the towns of Tlamcazapa and Buena Vista de Cuellar in the northern area of Guerrero, a state in the southwestern region of the country.

Several weeks earlier, eleven people were killed and thirty others were injured when a school bus overturned near an intersection in western Mexico and slammed into a residential house, possibly after losing its brakes. The bus was transporting a group of young children from the Juan Escutia kindergarten and the Lazaro Cardenas elementary school to the 'El Sabino' zoo and farm for a school field trip.

And in late April, a total of 43 people were killed and 27 others were injured when the rear trailer of a truck decoupled and slammed into an oncoming bus on the Alamo-El Potrero highway in the municipality of Alamo, which is located in the eastern state of Veracruz. It was the country's worst road accident in recent years.

-- © BNO News All rights reserved 2012-07-21