Canadian woman among 12 people killed in Mexico tourist bus crash
A Quebec mother of two vacationing with her family was among 12 people killed in Mexico’s state of Quintana Roo when a tour bus left the road and rolled over during an excursion to Mayan ruins on Tuesday.
Quintana Roo state prosecutors said a preliminary manslaughter investigation indicated the driver lost control of the bus and when he tried to get back on the narrow highway, the bus flipped, struck a tree and landed in vegetation along the roadside.
“Due to a lack of care the driver lost control of the bus’s steering to the right, leaving the asphalt,” state prosecutor Miguel Angel Pech Cen said at a news conference on Wednesday. He said evidence found at the scene indicated the driver was going too fast.
Mexican officials said eight Americans, two Swedes and a Mexican tour guide were the others killed in the crash.
The family of the Canadian victim have identified her as Stephanie Horwood of Gatineau. Carole Pommet Reinthaler told The Canadian Press that her daughter-in-law was in Mexico with her husband and their two daughters aged nine and 11. All three were injured.
The family had left for their first cruise last Thursday and expected to be back on Saturday.
Pommet Reinthaler said there will be two funeral services — one in Horwood’s native St. John’s, N.L., and the other in Gatineau.
Horwood would have turned 42 next week.
Pommet Reinthaler said it was her son who called from Mexico to break the news of the tragedy.
She told CTV News that Horwood suffered a serious head injury and died in an ambulance. The girls saw their mother covered by a blanket, she said.
Video images from the scene show the bus on its side in vegetation off the two-lane highway. Some survivors could be seen lying on the pavement while others were able to walk. Among the dead were a 78-yearold grandmother from Miami, her daughter and her 11-year-old grandson.
Mexican officials said four Brazilians, four Americans and two Swedes had to be hospitalized. The two Swedes were transported to the United States for treatment. Seven other people were slightly injured.
The driver of the bus was also injured.
The bus was taking passengers, who were on a Royal Caribbean cruise, from the port in Mahahual to Mayan ruins at Chaccoben when it left the narrow highway and flipped over Tuesday morning.