MEXICO CITY, 14 April (BelTA - Xinhua) - At least 24 people were killed early Thursday, when a gas tanker truck collided head on with a passenger bus in south Mexico.
The tanker was carrying 40,000 liters of fuel when it crashed, and exploded into flames a little more than a minute after impact, according to the daily El Universal.
The accident occurred around 5:30 a.m. local time along a stretch of highway in the town of Petacalco, Guerrero, very near the Pacific port of Lazaro Cardenas, Michoacan.
The victims were burnt in the fire, the commander of the Lazaro Cardenas Fire Department, Jorge Ostria Vera, told online news website Aristegui Noticias.
Both drivers of the two vehicles are among the dead.
Another nine people, ranging in age from three to 56, were injured in the accident and were taken to a hospital in Lazaro Cardenas for treatment, Mayeres said.
The cause of the collision is still under investigation, said Mayeres.
The bus passengers were all members of one family and their neighbors who had rented the vehicle to travel from Morelia, the capital of Michoacan, to either Zihuatanejo or Acapulco, both beach resorts in Guerrero, for Easter weekend.
The Century 21 Highway, which connects central Mexico with the busy industrial port, was closed for several hours during the heavy traffic of Holy Week, as vacationers head to the coast.