MEXICO CITY — A bus carrying Mexicans and Venezuelan migrants crashed into a freight truck Tuesday in central Mexico, killing 16 people and injuring 36, local authorities said.
The National Immigration Institute said that 15 of the dead were Mexicans, but one was a Venezuelan citizen. Nine of the injured were Venezuelans who had appointments on the CBP app to apply for asylum at the U.S. border.
The accident happened early Tuesday on a highway that runs south toward Oaxaca state. The route is frequently used by migrant smugglers.
In July, five Honduran migrants were killed and another 18 injured when the van they were riding in crashed on a road on Mexico’s southern Gulf coast.
In February 17 migrants were killed when the bus they were traveling in crashed in Puebla.
Migrants frequently use trucks and buses to travel through Mexico to reach the U.S. border.
In 2021 a truck carrying migrants overturned on a highway near the southern city of Tuxtla Gutierrez, killing 56 people.