At least 15 people were killed and three injured after a truck packed with workers crashed into a car and a taxi and burst into flames on a highway between Mérida and Campeche in Mexico’s Yucatán peninsula, local authorities and media reported.
Diario de Yucatán reported that 14 people who had been inside the pickup were killed in the blaze and a 15th victim later died at the scene. Three other people were rescued from the wreckage and taken to nearby hospitals; their conditions were not immediately known. Video circulating on social media and shared with news outlets showed burning wreckage and people trapped near the vehicles, and witnesses described victims lying on the road.
Firefighters, paramedics and state police responded to the collision and worked to extinguish the flames and rescue survivors, Diario de Yucatán said. The National Guard and forensic teams later secured the site and removed the bodies. Yucatán Gov. Joaquín Díaz Mena posted on X expressing his condolences and offering “solidarity and support to the affected families during this painful moment.”
State police had not released the identities of the victims or the cause of the crash. Traffic on the two-lane road was closed in both directions while emergency crews worked and investigators processed the scene.
Officials said the crash is the deadliest on Yucatán roads in about half a century. Authorities and historical records cited by local media said the previous most lethal incident in the state occurred in 1979, when a bus overturned on the Suma de Hidalgo–Cansahcab highway, killing 11 people and injuring 43.
The collision came days after a separate fatal incident northwest of Mexico City in which a train struck a double-decker bus, a crash that local reports said left 10 dead and dozens injured. Federal and state authorities continue to investigate the Mérida–Campeche collision, and hospitals in the area said they were treating the injured as law enforcement sought to determine the sequence of events that led to the fire.
Further details on the identities of those killed, the condition of the injured and the cause of the crash were expected to be released as forensic examinations and a formal inquiry proceed.