Mexican Landslide Buries Bus, Dozens Dead

Hundreds of rescuers were digging frantically to reach victims of an avalanche that swept down a Mexican mountainside and buried a bus carrying up to 60 passengers. Thirty-two bodies were recovered as hope waned of finding survivors.

"We have 32 people. Nineteen men, nine women, three little girls, and one little boy. A total of 32 victims," said Blanca Laura Villeda, the State of Puebla Justice Attorney.

Soldiers and rescue workers braved threats of additional slides to pull victims from the bus, which had been traveling along a remote winding road Wednesday morning when a rain-soaked slope gave way near the town of Eloxochitlan in the central state of Puebla.

Officials said the bus was carrying between 40 and 60 people but that it was impossible to know the exact number of passengers on board because the bus made stops along the way.

The state's chief of ambulance services, Salvador Bianchini, told the Televisa television network that "all are dead," but did not explain how he knew that. He said workers had only gained access to a small section of the bus.

(CBS)

Bianchini said officials were concerned a nearby cliff could come tumbling down at any moment, but that the search would probably continue Friday.

Puebla government spokesman Ismael Rios said the landslide brought down at least 100 tons of earth and rock piled 130 feet high.

So far, all but two of the 32 victims — aged 6 to 48 — have been identified, Puebla's state government said.

Gov. Mario Marin said officials were bringing coffins to the site, and that the government would pay for victims' funerals and set up scholarships for their children.

Local news media reported that most of the bus passengers were from Eloxochitlan, an extremely poor town in central Mexico.

(AP)

"I lost a son of mine," said one man. "It's not enough to fight narco-trafficking. Poverty, it's in every corner of the country. To (President) Felipe Calderon, don't feel proud that you are fighting drug trafficking. That's not enough."

Eloxochitlan resident Donato Trujillo, who was helping rescue workers, saw the landslide from his home.

"We heard the movement of the earth, a tremendous roar and people screaming," he told Televisa. "It was a direct, fatal blow."

Calderon ordered the Interior and Defense departments to help in the rescue efforts.

Marin said authorities are considering dynamiting the rest of the mountain once rescue efforts end to avoid future landslides.

Heavy rainfall across Mexico this week has triggered flooding and landslides that killed several people.