Oaxaca Civil Protection Agency
The bus that crashed in the state of Oaxaca.
CNN –
According to local authorities, 18 people were killed in a bus accident in the Mexican state of Oaxaca on Friday, most of the passengers were migrants.
The victims included three children and two women, all from Venezuela and Haiti, Oaxaca’s attorney general said. At least 27 people were injured and transported to surrounding hospitals.
Images posted by authorities on Facebook show the large bus overturned and heavily damaged on a curve on the mountainous Oaxaca-Cuacnopalan highway.
Authorities are investigating the cause of the accident, which occurred at 5 a.m. local time (7 a.m. ET).
Oaxaca Civil Protection Agency
The scene of the accident.
The tragedy follows the deaths of at least 10 Cuban migrants, including a child, on Sunday when the truck they were traveling in also overturned in southern Mexico, according to local authorities.
Venezuela and Haiti are the countries of origin of large numbers of migrants traveling north to escape insecurity and economic crisis in their home country.
U.S. and Mexican officials have struggled to respond to the arrivals, with Washington putting increasing pressure on Mexico City to take more responsibility for people crossing its territory.
Food shortages and limited access to health care have displaced more than 7.7 million people from Venezuela alone – a level of displacement greater than in Ukraine, where there is an active war.
On Thursday, senior Biden administration officials said the U.S. would resume deporting Venezuelans directly to Venezuela to stem the record influx, marking a major policy shift.
Haiti, meanwhile, awaits a new multinational mission to help bring order to the country currently wracked by uncontrolled gang violence, kidnappings and food insecurity.