Fatal bus crash kills at least 15 near Mexico City

At least 15 people died early Tuesday when a bus overturned on a highway outside Mexico City , authorities said.

Federal Civil Defense Coordinator Luis Felipe Puente said via Twitter that 27 other people were taken to area hospitals for treatment.

The accident closed a major inbound route to the capital on the Toluca-Mexico highway west of the city through the morning rush hour. Puente said the bus was traveling from the Pacific resort of Acapulco to the northern city of Guadalajara.

The crash was under investigation.

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In addition to 22 adults injured, there were five children who received medical care in the State of Mexico hospitals that could not provide information regarding their families, nevertheless, four of them were located during the day and one remains unknown.

Close to 2:30 AM, a group of travelers from Mexico City bound for Acapulco on board of a Future Select bus experienced the worst tragedy of their lives, they said, for the speed of the vehicle combined with the wet asphalt caused the bus to overturn.

Those injured were taken to nearby hospitals in ambulances of the Red Cross, the State of Mexico’s Emergencies Service, and Toluca and Ocoyoacac Civil Protection.

After the first hours of the accident , some people teamed up in social media to find the relatives of the minors who could not provide their personal information due to the shock but who had already received medical care. They also helped adults find their sons or nephews.

The family of a minor with cerebral palsy has yet to be found.

Mrs. Alejandra Contreras said that she stopped to help on the highway where she looked after two girls and one boy who were not able to give their information or their parents’ names.

“We were worried because we saw one of them was in very serious conditions, she said she was called Zoé. Thanks to social media, we found her aunt Elizabeth, who told us she was looking for three other children, two of them were brothers of the girl we helped. We saw the ambulances transferred all of them, but some children were not able to tell their names, they were very frightened,” she said.

Based on information from the State of Mexico’s Health Institute, state hospitals received eight children, one of them arrived dead and there was one who, despite the seriousness of his injuries, was looking for his relatives.

According to the Health sector, the Nicolás San Juan Hospital received 10 people injured of whom 5 were minors; a 4-year-old and a 9-year-old were reported as critical; a 14-year-old was in delicate conditions; another 9-year-old was delicate, and a 5-year-old was stable. The rest, three women, and two men were all in delicate conditions; three more were voluntarily discharged.

Two minors were taken to El Niño Hospital; one of them arrived dead and the other, who is 10 years old, was injured on his right leg, had cerebral palsy, and was looking for his relatives.

The Regional Hospital 251 of the Mexican Institute of Social Security received four people, a 47-year-old woman who was reported in serious condition; two 20-year-old men in critical conditions, and a 14-year old in stable conditions.

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Meanwhile, the Adolfo López Mateos Medical Center received three women and two men; a 25-year-old woman died due to a severe head injury.

Moreover, the patient who was received at Hospital 22 of the Military Area was transferred to Mexico City’s Military Central Hospital due to the seriousness of his injuries.

Alejandra Contreras said that the dead and injured people , as well as their belongings, were scattered all over the highway and due to the time, very few drivers stopped by to help: “I had never seen something like that; what worried me the most were the children and adults that were afraid of us getting near to rob them, but they were desperately looking for their sons or nephews.”

It took Liliana Naranjo over 12 hours to find the bodies of Zahid and Maximiliano, her two sons, in addition to that of her sister, Ely Naranjo, and her nephew Joshua at Toluca’s Forensic Medical Service; all of them died at the accident that involved a bus from the Estrella Blanca company.

Her daughter Zoé is still hospitalized at the Nicolás San Juan hospital in serious conditions; she could lose an eye and needs reconstructive surgery due to severe head trauma.

The four members of that family are part of eight passengers from Acapulco who died at the accident ; moreover, according to the representative of Guerrero's government René Juárez, there were between 11 and 13 people from Guerrero at the bus but not all of them have been located.

Liliana can barely explain what happened; it is a reality she cannot accept for her five-year-old son was found completely disfigured and she could barely recognize her three-year-old.

Despite all the pain she, her husband Utsel, and her sister Sandy are feeling, they say they must recover for the Estrella Blanca company does not want to cover the expenses for the hospitalization and the transferring of the bodies back to their homes, which will be covered by Guerrero's government.

Zoé’s parents said the bus driver, a 24-year-old man, escaped from the scene. They also said they need money to continue with the treatment of their daughter for the hospital has asked them for medication and expenses they cannot pay for. Both of them are merchants in Acapulco and are unemployed due to the pandemic.

Liliana heard about the accident on the news but knew her children were on the bus when she saw her daughter’s picture on the internet.

Ely Naranjo, 40, went to visit her parents along with the youngest of her three children and her three nephews; they all went on the bus at the Papagayo station in Acapulco.

It was not the first time they traveled to Vallarta using the same bus line.

“They told us the driver was listening to very loud music; passengers asked him to turn it down. They say that he began falling asleep after that,” said Utsel.

The family wants justice : “I don’t want money; I don’t want compensation. I want my children; they are not worth money. I want to hug them; who is going to bring them back to me? They had a life to live. I want the driver and I want to see him pay,” they demanded.

mp