8 reported dead in ADO bus crash on Mérida-Cancún highway
As many as eight passengers died Sunday morning when an ADO bus en route to Mérida flipped on a slippery highway, according to local media reports.
Around 10:30 a.m., the first-class bus veered off the Cancun-Merida toll road and into the brush near the El Tintal-Playa del Carmen highway intersection.
Some news accounts state that the bus collided with a dump truck engaged with road work connected with the Mayan Train project. Construction workers there were the first to lend aid to the victims, said De Peso Yucatán.
A passenger in another ADO bus not far behind blamed the driver.
“It was raining and these buses are speeding!” the passenger wrote on social media.
Ten ambulances from Cancún, Playa del Carmen, and Puerto Morellos arrived at the scene. The Red Cross along with firefighters from Cancún and Playa del Carmen also responded.
Numerous passengers were transported to Cancún hospitals. At least two seriously injured riders were foreigners and one was a young girl, according to reports.
Some passengers escaped through windows before first-responders arrived, but more remained trapped inside the bus, which landed on its side.
Videos on social media depicted motorists who stopped to help the wounded passengers.
The bus was carrying 45 passengers, including 25 tourists, according to Debate.
ADO buses are commonly used to connect visitors who land in Cancún but with a final destination in Mérida.
Two women traveling in a Volkswagen Jetta lost their lives in August after being hit by an ADO bus on the same highway.
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