At least 19 people, including several children, were killed and 34 others injured when a truck refitted to carry passengers fell from an overpass five meters high, civil protection authorities from the eastern Mexico state of Veracruz said Monday.

 

The accident took place late Sunday in the Sierra Norte mountain areas, in the state of Puebla bordering the Veracruz state.

 

Speeding and overloading were the main reasons which caused the tragedy, the authorities said.

 

About 85 people aboard the truck were traveling from the Veracruz town of Filomeno Mata to the Puebla village of Santa Rita. The injured were taken to hospitals in both states.

 

On Sept. 15, a bus fell off a cliff in the western Mexico state of Nayarit in similar circumstances, leaving 17 people dead.

 

(Xinhua News Agency December 18, 2007)