Survivors of Mexico bus crash heading home, 2 victims ID’d

MEXICO CITY — Injured survivors of a tour bus crash that killed 11 foreigners including a Canadian in southeastern Mexico began leaving hospitals and heading home Thursday.

Authorities said driver negligence and excessive speed caused the crash that killed eight Americans, two Swedes, a Canadian and a Mexican tour guide as they travelled from cruise ships to visit Mayan ruins south of the beach destination of Tulum.

The Canadian was identified by her family as Stephanie Horwood of Gatineau, Que.

Carole Pommet Reinthaler told The Canadian Press on Wednesday that her daughter-in-law was in Mexico with her husband and their two daughters aged nine and 11.

All three were injured.

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The Swedish and Canadian governments confirmed the deaths of their citizens, but the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City confirmed only that there were “multiple” American deaths and several injuries. A statement said the embassy had staff on the ground assisting victims and loved ones.

About 20 people were injured but only four tourists — one Brazilian and three Americans — remained in local hospitals Wednesday, according to prosecutors in Mexico’s Quintana Roo state.

A preliminary manslaughter investigation indicated the driver lost control of the bus and when he tried to get it back on the narrow highway, the bus flipped, struck a tree and landed in vegetation along the roadside, state prosecutor Miguel Angel Pech Cen told reporters.

Miami-based lawyer Jim Walker, who has represented victims in other cruise ship excursion accidents, said there have been 10 or 11 similar bus excursion accidents in recent years, mostly around the Caribbean.

“We see a lot of passengers complain about excessive speed, reckless driving,” or intoxicated drivers, said Walker, who was not representing any of the victims in this accident.

The cruise ship companies “claim that the local companies are independent contractors and they try to disclose language to that effect in their passenger contracts saying ‘Look, if you get off the ship you’re leaving at your own peril, we’re not responsible for you once you leave the ship,’ and the law is kind of to the contrary that they do have an ongoing duty to warn of dangers ashore,” Walker said.

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With files from The Canadian Press

The Associated Press