A bus carrying a mix of migrants, locals and members of the armed forces has crashed in the Mexican state of Veracruz, killing 16 people and injuring 36 others, officials said.
The crash occurred shortly after 6pm local time on Saturday near the small city of Jalcomulco, about 150 miles east of the state capital, Xalapa.
The passengers were on their way to Mexico City from Puebla, where they had boarded the bus.
Veracruz state officials said nine of the dead were Honduran migrants, four were locals and three were from Mexico City. The passengers included 11 children, all of whom survived the crash.
The cause of the crash was not immediately known, but a Mexican official said the bus was traveling at a high speed when it went off the road.
Officials said the injured had been taken to hospitals in Xalapa and Jalcomulco and that Mexico’s naval forces had provided medical attention at the scene.
The incident comes at a time when thousands of migrants fleeing poverty and violence in Central America have been stranded and stuck in Mexico, hoping to reach the US and seek asylum. The Biden administration has made it clear that it will not be deterred by an increase in migrants crossing the US-Mexico border.
Mexico has already deported more than 34,000 migrants in 2021, and President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has urged that stricter measures be implemented to stem the flow of migrants.
