Highlights
- The accident may have been caused by one of the truck's two tank trailers coming lose
- The collision left both vehicles completely burned
- Police photos showed the bus was reduced to a tangle of smoking, charred metal
Mexico: As many as 18 people were killed after a passenger bus collided with a tanker truck carrying fuel in northern Mexico. According to the reports, the accident was reported on Saturday and may have been caused by one of the truck's two tank trailers coming lose.
The collision left both vehicles completely burned.
Police photos showed the bus was reduced to a tangle of smoking, charred metal.
Tamaulipas state police initially found nine sets of remains, but by early afternoon prosecutors said nine more had been recovered.
The death toll could rise, they said.
The crash occurred before dawn on a highway that leads to the northern city of Monterrey.
The driver of the fuel truck apparently survived and is under investigation. The bus had apparently set out from the central state of Hidalgo and was headed to Monterrey.
The semi-truck was towing two tank trailers in tandem. Such double-container freight trucks have been involved in numerous deadly crashes in the past.
State prosecutors said in a statement that “the crash may have occurred because one of the fuel tanks came loose.”
(With inputs from AP)
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