MEXICO CITY, March 11 (Xinhua) -- At least 11 people were killed and seven others injured in a collision between a diesel tanker truck and a public transport bus on Thursday in the northern Mexican state of Nuevo Leon, the state government said.
The Nuevo Leon Civil Protection Directorate said in a statement the accident was reported at 5:00 a.m. local time and took place on a road in the Salinas Victoria municipality, part of the metropolitan area of Monterrey, the capital of the state.
The tanker caught fire after the collision, said the agency, which released images of the vehicle engulfed in fire as firefighters worked to extinguish it.
According to local media, the bus was heading north from the state capital and overturned after the crash, and rescuers worked for several hours to recover the 11 bodies.
Emergency services transferred seven people who were injured to different hospitals, while an investigation was underway to locate the driver of the tanker since he was not found at the scene, Director of the Nuevo Leon Civil Protection Miguel Angel Perales said.
The official also stated that the vehicle was transporting fuel from the city of Matamoros, in the neighboring state of Tamaulipas, to a company's facilities located in Salinas Victoria.
The number of fatalities made it the worst vehicle crash accident in the northern state in the last two decades, he said. Enditem
