Mexico City, October 9 (RHC)-- At least 18 migrants, mostly Venezuelans, died over the weekend as a result of a road accident on a highway in Oaxaca, in southern Mexico, after a bus carrying 55 people overturned.

The State Coordination of Civil Protection of Oaxaca confirmed the preliminary figure of 17 deaths through its social media account, while noting that numerous people were injured and were transferred to nearby health institutions for specialized medical care.

However, the Oaxaca State Attorney General's Office later updated the total number of fatalities to 18, while specifying that there were two women, three minors and 13 men, "all of them from Venezuela and Haiti", according to its press release.

According to the authorities, the accident took place around 04H30 (local time) at kilometer 88 of the Oaxaca-Cuacnopalan highway, "where a bus with 55 migrants, most of them Venezuelan, overturned."   Civil Protection of Oaxaca specified that the bus was on its way to Mexico City with a group of Venezuelan migrants in the midst of the complex migratory wave facing Mexico and Central America.

"We deeply regret the fatal accident that occurred on the Oaxaca-Cuacnopalan highway, in which several migrants died. Our government personnel are already providing support to those affected," said the governor of Oaxaca, Salomón Jara.

Last month, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) stated that the Central American region and Mexico are going through an "unprecedented" migration crisis.