14 people die after bus plunges off cliff in Mexico

A bus carrying farm workers and their families home plunged off a cliff in northern Mexico on Saturday, killing 14 people and injuring 21.

A police report said the bus was travelling along a treacherously winding stretch of highway when it plummeted off the 40-metre (130-foot) cliff in La Rumorosa halfway between the border cities of Tijuana and Mexicali on Saturday.

The official cause of the crash was under investigation.

One man injured in the crash told investigators that the bus appeared to have brake trouble before the accident and that its drivers had said a mechanic would look at the problem when they reached Mexicali.

Among the 14 dead were two young boys and an infant. Nine men and two women died.

The bus was transporting the workers from El Papalote ranch in the Pacific coast town of San Quintin to another ranch hundreds of miles (kilometres) south, in Villa Juarez outside the Sinaloa state capital of Culiacan.

Among 21 people treated for injuries at nearby hospitals were five children, ages 8 months to 10 years, listed in a serious condition.