17 dead as bus with 6 Indians onboard plunges into ravine in Mexico: Report

Mexico City, Aug 4 (IANS) Six Indians were onboard a passenger bus, which plunged into a 164-foot-deep hillside in the western Mexican state of Nayarit early Thursday, killing 17 people and injuring 23 others.

A source from Nayarit's firefighting service said six Indian citizens had been aboard the bus, part of the Elite passenger line, which departed from Mexico City on Wednesday, the Daily Mail reported.

The bus's destination was Tijuana, the border town across from southern California.

An official list with the names of survivors published by Mexican newspaper El Financiero identified four of the India nationals as Rajan Singh, 21; Mandip Kumar, 22; Adama Kane, 46; and Hanidou Kane, the British daily reported.

The driver, identified as Francisco, survived the crash and was taken into custody as part of the investigation. He told investigators that he fell asleep behind the wheel and eventually lost control of the vehicle before it crashed through a guardrail.

Footage showed first responders trekking down the slope in search of survivors.

Jorge Rodríguez, the security and civil protection secretary for the state of Nayarit, told reporters that the rescue mission was "extremely difficult" because of how deep the ravine was, the Mail reported.

Last month, another bus crash in the southern state of Oaxaca left 29 people dead, and in February, a bus carrying migrants from South and Central America crashed in central Mexico, killing 17 people.