Mexican bus plunges into ravine; 57 dead

A tour bus veered off a mountain road, crashed through the metal barrier and dropped hundreds of feet down a ravine in eastern Mexico on Saturday, killing 57 people, police said.

At least five children were among the dead in the accident on a steep stretch of highway linking the capital with the Gulf of Mexico port city of Veracruz.

"It broke the barrier and went down a ravine," civil protection official Ranulfo Marquez said.

He said the dead were all Mexicans on a chartered bus traveling to Veracruz, a colonial city and major port.

The crash happened near the Pico de Orizaba, a dormant volcano and Mexico's tallest mountain at over 18,300 feet.

First Published: Apr 18, 2006 01:27 IST