Seven Die in Bus-Truck Crash West of Mexicali

Seven people were killed and seven others were injured Monday when a Mexican bus collided with a truck and crashed down a steep precipice on the highway between Tijuana and Mexicali, authorities said Tuesday.

The bus hit the truck on a curve at 12:45 p.m. and was thrown off the road, falling more than 200 yards in the rough terrain of the Rumoroso Mountains, according to a spokesman for the federal highway police in Mexicali. The bus was driving at an “excessive” speed on a “very dangerous” curve where the speed limit is 25 miles an hour, the police spokesman said. Highway police were still investigating, he said.

Among those killed was the bus driver, identified as Jose Trinidad Martinez Duran, 35. Six passengers were also killed, said authorities, who could not immediately provide their names. All the casualties were believed to be Mexican citizens, officials said. The truck driver was not injured, said the police spokesmen.

The injured were taken to the General Hospital and to the Social Security Hospital in Mexicali, where several were believed to be in critical condition, authorities said. At least two of the injured were released after treatment, said Hector Franco, a spokesman for the General Hospital in Mexicali.

The bus was on a regularly scheduled passenger run between Tijuana and Mexicali when the accident occurred about 33 miles west of Mexicali, officials said.

Of the fatalities, five were dead at the scene and two were declared dead upon arriving by ambulance in Mexicali, officials said.