22 Dead as freight train flattens bus
Twenty-two people were killed when a freight train slammed into a bus in central Mexico and dragged it down the tracks.
The bus was practically flattened by the force of the impact at a level crossing in the city of Cuautitlan, just north of Mexico City. Some of the bodies were so badly mangled that establishing their identities was proving difficult.
“Eleven bodies at the morgue … have not yet been identified, and it has been difficult to determine their description and their gender, because some are unrecognisable and mutilated,” the state attorney general’s office in Mexico State – which borders Mexico City – said in a stateent.
The Mexico State government said 14 people were injured, many seriously, and that one other injured person had died at an emergency hospital, bringing the death toll to 22.
It remained unclear exactly how the collision occurred.
State prosecutors said the driver of the bus had tried to beat the train at a crossing.
However, an assistant state prosecutor in Cuautitlan, Alejandro Jardon, told the government news agency Notimex that investigations indicated the bus had stalled as it crossed the tracks, and the driver – unable to restart it – fled as the train approached, leaving passengers to their fate.
The driver was detained nearby. The vehicle was operated by a private bus company, Autotransportes Mexico-Melchor Ocampo SA, according to prosecutors.
Authorities said the train was pulling 36 empty wagons at the time. The driver and the train conductor were detained for questioning.
