Bus carrying tourists crashes in western Mexico, killing 18

MEXICO CITY -- A bus carrying tourists who had arrived on a flight from Phoenix crashed in western Mexico on Saturday, killing at least 18 people, bus company and Red Cross officials said.

The Vallarta Plus bus was carrying 35 passengers from the resort city of Puerto Vallarta to Guadalajara when it ran off a mountain road and plunged into a ravine near the town of Compostela, about 125 miles from Guadalajara, Nayarit state police director Fernando Carbajal said.

At least 18 people were killed and 13 injured, five of them seriously, said Nayarit state Red Cross spokesman Miguel Langarica.

Vallarta Plus spokesman Daniel Rios said as many as half of the passengers had arrived in Mexico on a flight from Phoenix on Friday. The plane had been bound for Guadalajara but was rerouted to Puerto Vallarta along with 17 other flights because of a fire at the Guadalajara airport.

Rios said the passengers had yet to be identified but that at least one family of eight people were Mexicans who were legal residents in Phoenix and had traveled to Mexico for the Independence Day celebration. A 1-year-old child was among those killed, Rios said.

Reforma newspaper said the Guadalajara airport was shut down after a flight from Cancun caught fire. It was unclear if there were any injuries from the fire.