Maltrata bus crash
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The Maltrata bus crash was a road accident on the 17 April 2006 near the Mexican town of Maltrata, around 125km from Mexico City, in which 57 people died.
[edit] Overview
The 22-year old bus was transporting Mexican pilgrims from Guadalajara to Mexico City after they had attended a religious festival in the Northern city. The bus had already been travelling for ten hours when police say it apparently developed a fault, probably with its brakes. The bus was descending a highway on a steep hill at over 70mp/h at time. The driver attempted to manouvere into an emergency hard shoulder but lost control, sending the bus rolling down a ravine which bordered the road.
The bus fell approximately 650 feet into the stream bed below, crashing into the hillsides several times as is descended. 57 were killed in the impact, the three survivors all very seriously injured. The bus was well over its capacity of 46, carrying at least 60 passengers. Initial reports said that there had been 71 passengers on the bus and 63 had died, but these numbers were scaled back as bodies were identitifed and several critically injured people died in the rescue operation.
The police believe that the bus's brakes were faulty, having not been serviced properly in may years, and that the driver was driving much too fast for the dangerous road, which is a well known accident black spot. The owner of the company which supplied the bus has been taken in for questioning by Mexican police. Crash barriers may also have helped prevent the accident, had they been installed. This was the worst vehicle accident in Mexican history.
