BajaNomad

Bus accident near Tijuana

Johannes - 1-2-2010 at 04:55 PM

I just read in the newsticker that there was a bus accident west of Tijuana with 14 fatalities and 22 people injured. Does anyone has more details?

noproblemo2 - 1-2-2010 at 05:29 PM

Eighteen people were killed and 31 others injured on Saturday when a bus fell into a 250-meter- deep ravine and broke into two parts at kilometer 40 of the La Rumorosa highway, in northern Mexico state, Baja California.

Three children were killed and five children were injured in the accident, Afredo Escobedo Ortiz, the head of the state government’s civil protection department told media.

Mexican media named 14 of the dead and said that four people remain unidentified. Those named are between 3 and 26 years old. Earlier reports said that only 14 people had died.

Regional authorities said that brake failure was the most likely cause. Involved in the rescue work are police and fire crews from the cities of Tecate, Tijuana and Mexicali, all in Baja California. The dead and injured are being taken to Mexicali.

On Thursday, a researcher at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, told reporters that road accidents kill around 15,000 people in Mexico each year, due to poor road quality and dilapidated vehicles. He estimated that 80 percent of Mexico’s deadly accidents are preventable.
http://tantaonews.com/?p=24350

wessongroup - 1-2-2010 at 05:57 PM

What a terrible shame...

DianaT - 1-2-2010 at 06:36 PM

That is one very long steep grade for brake failure----how terribly sad, just sad. :no::no:

noproblemo2 - 1-2-2010 at 06:44 PM

It's very tragic event for those families

BajaNews - 1-2-2010 at 06:59 PM

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/jan/02/baja-bus-cras...

By Sandra Dibble
January 2, 2010

TIJUANA — Fourteen people died and 21 were injured early Saturday when a bus carrying agricultural workers and their families plunged more than 300 feet down an embankment on a curving mountain road about 70 miles east of Tijuana.

The fatalities included 11 adults, two children and an infant, according to the Baja California Attorney General’s Office.

Other drivers who witnessed the 5 a.m. accident along Highway 2D in the mountain pass of La Rumorosa helped carry survivors back to the road until rescue vehicles arrived, a statement said.

A survivor told authorities that one of the drivers for the Tierra del Sol bus company had commented that the brakes were failing, and that they would seek help from a mechanic once they reached Mexicali. The impact left the bus split in two parts.

Alfredo Escobedo, Baja California’s director of civil protection, said investigators were looking into whether the accident was caused by brake failure or whether the driver had fallen asleep. It was unclear whether the driver had survived.

The passengers were Mixtec Indian day laborers and their families traveling from San Quintin, an agricultural area south of Ensenada to another agricultural area in the state of Sinaloa, outside the capital of Culiacán. They had left Rancho Papalote in San Quintin at about 7 p.m. Friday, the statement said.

bajadogs - 1-4-2010 at 09:04 PM

It's hard to imagine how horrific this must have been. It barely made the news here in San Diego. What a different headline this would be if it were a few miles north of that invisible line. I came up that hill yesterday not knowing what had happened.

Noproblemo, this wasn't a TRAGEDY

Dave - 1-5-2010 at 09:39 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by BajaNews
A survivor told authorities that one of the drivers for the Tierra del Sol bus company had commented that the brakes were failing, and that they would seek help from a mechanic once they reached Mexicali.


It was CRIMINAL.