Mexico City, Mar 5 (UNI) A tractor-trailer collided head-on with an interurban transportation van in the predawn hours of Monday, killing nine people, including three minors, in the southeastern Mexican state of Quintana Roo, authorities said.
According to a statement from the Attorney General's Office of the State of Quintana Roo, the accident on federal highway 307 also left six people injured.
The accident occurred around 4:00 a.m. local time (1000 GMT) at the Reforma Agraria-Puerto Juarez segment of the highway, near the X-Hazil intersection, after the driver of the trailer lost control of the vehicle and crashed into the van.
The van immediately caught fire with the passengers still on board, and the trailer fled the scene, according to preliminary reports published by local media.
Quintana Roo Governor Mara Lezama lamented the tragedy in a post on social media and called on motorists to take extreme precautions as that stretch of the highway remained temporarily closed.
UNI/XINHUA ARN