Aerial view of the site of a road accident in Tepic, Nayarit State, Mexico, taken on August 3, 2023. (PHOTO / AP)

MEXICO CITY - Fifteen Mexicans and one Venezuelan died in a road accident in central Mexico early on Tuesday, officials from Mexico's INM migration institute said in a statement.

The 52 passengers traveling on the bus on Mexico's Miahuatlan-Coixtlahuaca highway included 10 passengers from Venezuela, the INM said, adding they had appointments to seek legal entry to the United States.

Local media had earlier reported that those killed in the crash were mostly migrants from Venezuela

Some 36 passengers were injured and taken to hospital after the bus crashed with a trailer in the early hours of the morning, officials from the state of Puebla said in a separate statement.

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Nine of the injured were Venezuelan and of those, three remain hospitalized, according to the INM, which said support would be given to return the body of the deceased to Venezuela.

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Local media had earlier reported that those killed in the crash were mostly migrants from Venezuela.

A video shared on X by the local Red Cross unit showed a mangled white bus lying on its side while rescue teams worked in the dark.