DHAKA: A least 36 people were killed when a bus slammed into a broken-down truck and burst into flames on Sunday in southern Veracruz state of Mexico, reports BBC.

Four people survived after the bus burst into flames.

A statement from the state civil defence agency said the victims were business people from the region who were en route to Mexico City.

They were travelling from Villahermosa in Tabasco State when their bus hit the lorry, which the authorities said was "badly parked on the highway".

Veracruz Governor Javier Duarte told local television "Apart from being hit, the bus also caught fire, making the job of identifying bodies difficult".

He visited the survivors at a local hospital.

Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto, in a post on Twitter, offered his condolences to the families of the deceased.
Bus crashes and other traffic accidents cause hundreds of deaths each year in Mexico.

In April 2012, an accident involving a bus killed more than 40 people in another part of Veracruz, and two months later more than 30 people were killed when their bus turned over on a wet road in Guerrero State, according to New York Times.

BDST: 1105 HRS APR 14, 2014