12 killed as bus carrying foreign tourists crashes in Mexico

A bus carrying cruise ship passengers on an excursion to Mayan ruins in south-eastern Mexico flipped over on a narrow highway on Tuesday, killing 11 travellers and their guide, and injuring about 20 others, officials said. Seven Americans and two Swedes were among the injured, said Vicente Martin, spokesperson for the Quintana Roo state Civil Defence agency. Authorities had not yet established the nationalities of the dead. The bus ended up on its side in vegetation along the two-lane road.
Video taken after the crash showed some survivors lying on the pavement and others walking around. One body lay on the roadside covered by a white sheet or other object, as the crash scene was cordoned off with yellow police tape. Miami-based Royal Caribbean Cruises said in a statement that passengers from two of its ships, the Celebrity Equinox and Serenade of the Seas, were on the bus.
The company expressed its sympathies and said it was assisting with medical care and transportation. Martin said investigators were working to determine the cause of the crash, which occurred as the bus was on its way to the ruins at Chacchoben, about 175km south of Tulum.
He said he did not see the crash, but "the bus clearly lost control somehow as there were swerve marks all over the road surface".
Brawley, of Haslet, Texas, said his ship departed Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on Friday for a seven-day cruise. They were in Roatan, Honduras, on Monday and were scheduled to be in Cozumel on Wednesday.
Michael Schuenemeyer, a minister from Cleveland, was on another bus that passed the crash about an hour later.
Tow trucks were lifting up the bus when they passed by, he said. "It was in pretty sad shape," Schuenemeyer said.
Costa Maya Mahahual, the bus company involved, said in a statement that in addition to the tourists, a guide and driver were aboard the bus.