15 dead, 21 injured in bus crash in west Mexico

MEXICO CITY, July 18 (Xinhua) -- At least 15 people were killed and another 21 injured on Thursday when a passenger bus overturned in Mexico's western Nayarit state, local officials said.

Several children were among the dead and injured, a Nayarit government spokesperson told Xinhua by phone.

The accident was reported around 7 a.m. local time along a highway linking the state capital Tepic with the Pacific Coast resort of Puerto Vallarta.

The bus, which was carrying beach-bound tourists from the central state of Aguascalientes, turned over in a mountainous region near the town of Compostela.

Fire fighters worked for several hours to rescue injured passengers from the wreckage and recover the bodies, according to the Nayarit Fire Department.