An overcrowded passenger bus carrying Mexican tourists crashed through a metal barrier, plunging off a 250m cliff into eastern Mexico on Monday, killing at least 63 people, including 10 children.

The accident, on a steep stretch of highway linking the capital with the Gulf of Mexico port city of Veracruz, was one of the worst traffic crashes in Mexico in recent years.

"It broke the barrier and went down a ravine," civil protection official Ranulfo Marquez said.

The bus, equipped to hold 46 seated passengers, was carrying 71, some of whom were standing up, said Federal Preventive Police Cmdr. Reinaldo Ascencio Cavazos. He said the owner of the bus was detained for questioning. Ascencio said the passengers belonged to a religious group known as the Light of the World.

Rescuers ended their search for victims after recovering 63 bodies, state official Rosa Elvira Gonzalez said.

(Xinhua News Agency April 18, 2006)