Illegal migrants from Guatemala, Ecuador found stuffed inside coach bus at triple capacity on Mexican highway
Mexican authorities say they busted a coach bus carrying nearly 200 illegal migrants bound for the United States last week.
The incident unfolded on a highway near Las Choapas in the state of Veracruz.
Federal authorities conduction checks on vehicles passing through the area encountered a dangerously overload passenger bus.
In total, 182 foreigners hailing primarily from Ecuador and Guatemala were found inside the bus, according to the Instituto Nacional de Migración (INM), the Mexican government’s migration agency.
Even the largest coach buses generally only provide seating for up to 61 passengers, indicating the vehicle was likely traveling at around triple its capacity.
#Comunicado ?| Auxilia @INAMI_mx en #Veracruz a 182 personas migrantes originarias de Guatemala y Ecuador, que viajaban de manera hacinada en un autobús. https://t.co/vNKeaJWEjY pic.twitter.com/zYHEYtLds3
— INM (@INAMI_mx) January 9, 2024
“Among the citizens from Guatemala and Ecuador were eight unaccompanied minors and 15 family units made up of 39 people, as well as 28 women and 107 adult men traveling alone,” the INM explained in a statement.
None of the migrants could produce paperwork demonstrating they were in the country legally. They were transferred to various Mexican agencies for processing and possible expulsion.
The driver was taken into custody and the bus was impounded.
On the same day, the INM announced that another group of illegal migrants were found aboard a coach bus in the state of Oaxaca.
A group of 40 Chinese nationals were caught by authorities in the city of Tlacolula de Matamoros and taken into custody.
@INAMI_mx en coordinación federal y estatal, ubicó en Tlacolula, #Oaxaca, a 40 personas migrantes de origen chino??; 34 adultos fueron canalizados a instalaciones del INM y un núcleo familiar de 6 personas quedó bajo resguardo de la Oficina Administrativa de NNA en el estado. pic.twitter.com/ofjIQe4FHq
— INM (@INAMI_mx) January 9, 2024
Migrants frequently perish or suffer serious injuries in bus crashes as they make their way to the U.S. through Mexico and Central America.
In October, a bus carrying more than 50 migrants crashed in Oaxaca, leaving at least 18 dead and dozens more injured.
In August, 16 people died and 36 were wounded in a bus crash on a highway in Oaxaca.
Days earlier, 17 people were killed when a bus transporting U.S.-bound migrants plunged into a ravine in the Mexican state of Nayarit.
Six of the deceased were identified as citizens of India while another was from Mauritania.
In February, at least 39 people died when a bus carrying more than 60 migrants flew off a cliff in Panama.
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