At least 21 people have lost their lives in a devastating road accident in central Mexico, as reported by a local official. The tragic collision occurred on Wednesday morning on the highway connecting Cuacnopalan and Oaxaca in Puebla state, according to Samuel Aguilar Pala, who oversees local government affairs.
Pala confirmed that initially, 18 people perished at the scene of the crash, while three additional victims succumbed to their injuries later at the hospital. Emergency medical teams are currently tending to several other injured individuals.
Local news outlets report that the accident involved a tanker truck, a passenger bus, and a van. According to the newspaper La Jornada, the crash sequence began when a cement truck tried to overtake a van and, in the process, veered into oncoming traffic, striking a bus head-on before colliding with the transport van and plummeting into a ravine, where it subsequently ignited in flames.
Footage circulating on social media, purportedly taken by a local journalist, exhibits a massive plume of dark smoke emerging from the site while significant sections of road railing appear to have been torn away. This video remains unverified by outside media sources.
Mexico has seen a series of serious accidents on its highways in recent years, with notable crashes, such as a February incident in Tabasco where multiple fatalities were reported from a bus disaster.
