Collision between a truck and a van, Tamaulipas, Mexico, May 14, 2023. | Photo: Twitter/ @teleSURtv

Mexico City, May 16 (RHC)-- A collision between a freight truck and a van caused the death of 26 Mexicans. The accident occurred on the Hidalgo-Zaragoza highway, in the state of Tamaulipas.

After the impact, the two vehicles exploded on fire.  The trailer of the truck was not found when Civil Protection agents arrived.  They found the bodies of a child and a woman.  Later, when the firefighters managed to put out the fire caused by the collision, security authorities found more charred bodies inside the van.

The failure of the authorities to find the truck trailer bed has raised suspicions about its contents.  In recent years there have been repeated cases of migrants crossing Mexico crowded into the boxes of freight trucks on their way to the United States.

Tamaulipas is one of the northern states where human traffickers known as "coyoteros" operate.  The use of cargo trucks for human trafficking is becoming more common, especially after the tightening of controls on the lines of the freight train heading to to the north.

Civil protection officials' first reports indicate that the van would have left Veracruz bound for Nuevo Leon, according to El Financiero.

One of the last cases of human trafficking occurred in early March in Veracruz, where authorities found 103 migrants in the back of an abandoned trailer.