Death toll climbs to 26 in tanker-bus collision in Mexico

The death toll from a head-on collision between a fuel tanker truck and a passenger bus in south Mexico has climbed to 26, officials said on Friday.

Also Friday, investigators concluded the bus driver was at fault, after apparently letting his vehicle slide into the opposite lane and crash head on into the tanker truck, which soon burst into flames.

Neither driver survived, and the rest of the fatal victims, who burned to death, were passengers heading to the beach for the Easter holiday.

The accident, which occurred early Thursday along a highway in the border region between the states of Guerrero and Michoacan, initially killed 24 people and injured nine.

At a press conference, Mariana Ponce, the director of forensic services for Michoacan state's Attorney General's Office said her Guerrero counterpart delivered the bodies of 26 people for identification.

The bus passengers were members of one family and their neighbors who had rented the bus to travel from Morelia, the capital of Michoacan, to either Zihuatanejo or Acapulco, both beach resorts in Guerrero. Enditem