17 Tourists Dead in Mexico Bus Crash
Posted by
Jenny AlbanoSeptember 16, 2007 10:09 PMA bus crashed in western Mexico Saturday, September 15, killing at least 17 tourists, many of whom had just arrived from Phoenix.
The bus was carrying 35 passengers from the resort city of Puerto Vallarta to Guadalajara when it ran off a mountain road and plunged into a ravine near the town of Compostela, about 125 miles from Guadalajara, the Nayarit's state prosecutor's office said in a statement.
The report stated that at least 17 people died, which included 13 men, 3 women, and a child of only one years old. There were 14 people that were injured from the crash. The driver of the bus survived, but was injured and had to be hospitalized.
As many as half of the passengers had just arrived in Mexico from Phoenix. The tourists were bound fro Guadalajara, but the plane was rerouted to Puerto Vallarta because of a fire at the Guadalajara Airport. Also, authorities know that at least eight passengers on the bus were Mexicans who live in Arizona who were visiting for Mexico's Independence Day. Four of the family members were injured, and the 1 year old died.
Four of the injured were from Los Angeles and Riverside, California, but authorities do not know any information about the deceased. The rest of the passengers on the bus were not identified.
For more information on this subject, please refer to our section on Airlines, Cruises, Buses, and Other Mass Transit Accidents.