The 52 passengers travelling on the bus on Mexico's Miahuatlan-Coixtlahuaca highway included 10 passengers from Venezuela, the INM said on Tuesday, adding they had appointments to seek legal entry to the United States.
Some 36 passengers were injured and taken to hospital after the bus crashed with a trailer in the early hours of the morning, officials from the state of Puebla said.
Nine of the injured were Venezuelan and of those, three remain in hospital, according to the INM, which said support would be given to return the body of the deceased to Venezuela.
Local media had earlier reported those killed in the crash were mostly migrants from Venezuela.
A video shared on X by the local Red Cross unit showed a mangled white bus lying on its side while rescue teams worked in the dark.Â
Because smugglers often use unsafe vehicles and drivers, cram too many migrants in or try to evade police, accidents involving those vehicles are not uncommon in Mexico.
In July, five Honduran migrants were killed and another 18 injured when the van they were riding in crashed on a road on Mexico's southern Gulf coast.
In February 17 migrants were killed when their bus in crashed in Puebla.
Migrants frequently use trucks and buses to travel through Mexico to reach the United States border.
In 2021 a truck carrying migrants overturned on a highway near the southern city of Tuxtla Gutierrez, killing 56 people.
with AP
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