Mexican Buses Crash, Killing 26 At Least 22 Injured In Accident On U.S. Border
A bus crossed into oncoming traffic and rammed another bus head-on at dawn Monday in northern Mexico, killing 26 people and injuring at least 22. Six of the dead were children.
The accident, about 12 miles south of the U.S. border, spilled bodies, luggage and twisted metal onto the highway.
“I’d never seen such an accident, so many dead and injured,” said rescue worker Juventud Felix Solis. “You feel just like crying but you know you’ve got to just get to work administering first aid.”
It was unclear what caused the bus to drift into the opposite lane near Sonoita. The impact of the crash crushed the entire front half of one of the buses, Sonoita police said.
Sonoran state prosecutor Vicky Salazar said several passengers had noticed brake problems, but their complaints were ignored by the two drivers on board.
“They asked that the brakes be checked and they paid them no attention,” she said.
Sonoita police said at least 26 people were killed, including six children. The injured were taken to hospitals on both sides of the border, but the extent of their injuries were not known.
The two buses were carrying a total of 52 passengers, according to the Mexican news agency Notimex.
Antonio Vega Perez, 33, of Los Angeles, fractured his ankle and spent 10 minutes freeing himself from the wreckage.
“I woke because I heard shouts of pain and shouts of people asking for help and children crying out to their parents,” he said. “There were things - seats - and I think even a person on top of me.”
Sonoita police said one of the buses was traveling from the border city of Tijuana to Guadalajara in west-central Mexico, and the other from Mexico City to Tijuana.
A van crash two hours later in the same area, involving a California family, caused some confusion because victims of both accidents were flown to some of the same Arizona hospitals.
Sgt. Michael O’Connor of the Pima County Sheriff’s Office said only two people from the bus collision were taken to Arizona hospitals, and their injuries were not life-threatening. Guadalupe Gutierrez, 45, was taken to Maricopa Medical Center in Phoenix and Jose Luis Roche to Tucson Medical Center. Both are Mexican.
The Maricopa Medical Center said it also treated four people from the van accident: the father of the family, Luis Torres, 32, and three of his four daughters, ages 4 to 10.
The fourth daughter, 5-year-old Stephanie, was in good condition at University Medical Center. The mother, Maria de Lourdes Torres, was dead at the scene.
Map of area