A bus crashed in Puebla state in Mexico Monday. It was carrying migrants from various countries, including Venezuela and Colombia. Officials from the Mexican state confirmed that the bus crash killed at least 17 people.

Puebla state Interior Minister Julio Huerta spoke with reporters in a news conference and revealed that the bus had 45 passengers and was caught up in an accident while traveling on a highway heading north.

Huerta revealed in the news conference that people had died at the time of the accident, while another 15 had been hospitalized. Two of them succumbed to their injuries and later died. He also stated that five of those still in the hospital were in critical condition.

According to Reuters, it is still unclear how many of the victims were migrants. The incident happened just a few days after another migrant bus crashed in Panama, killing 39 people.

Migrant Bus May Have Crashed Due to Brake Failure

The incident happened at around 4:00 p.m. on the Cuacnopalan-Oaxaca highway in San José Miahuatlán-Coixtlahuaca, Puebla. Some of those who died at the scene have been identified as seven men and four women, all of whom were adults. Meanwhile, those who died in the hospital included one man and one woman.

While Puebla officials did not reveal what really caused the crash, Mexican newspaper La Jornada reported that the driver lost control of the vehicle as it was traveling. It was reported that the cause of the accident may have been the bus's breaks failing to work.

Following the crash, other motorists traveling the same road got off their vehicles and tried to help the injured. Around 20 of them were transported to the Tehuacan General Hospital. Several aid groups from the state also sent some personnel to help out.

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Colombia Confirms One of the Mexico Bus Crash Fatalities Was Colombian

Puebla officials stated that many passengers lacked legal documents to verify their legal stay in Mexico. 

Meanwhile, Colombia's foreign ministry released a statement following the crash and revealed that a 56-year-old Colombian man was among the dead.

The Colombian foreign ministry also stated that two men and a woman who were injured and sent to the hospital were Colombian. Moreover, an uninjured Colombian man was turned over to migration authorities in the neighboring state of Oaxaca.

There are also reports of Haitian and Venezuelans riding the bus. This came even after U.S. President Joe Biden announced measures for people in Haiti and Venezuela to seek asylum from their countries and legally fly to the United States. These measures have greatly reduced the number of Venezuelans and Haitians coming to the U.S.-Mexico border, but they could not dissuade all.

According to Border Report, this accident is the latest fatal crash involving migrants in Southern Mexico in less than six months. Last October, five Nicaraguan migrants died, with another 11 injured during a bus accident in Veracruz.

READ MORE: Venezuelan Migrant Numbers at U.S.-Mexico Border Drop by 90%

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Rick Martin

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