Mexican bus plunges into ravine, 57 dead

MEXICO CITY, Apr 17 (Reuters) A tour bus veered off a mountain road, crashed through the metal barrier and dropped hundreds of feet down a ravine in eastern Mexico today, killing 57 people, police said.

At least five children were among the dead in the accident on a steep stretch of highway linking the capital with the Gulf of Mexico port city of Veracruz.

''It broke the barrier and went down a ravine,'' civil protection official Ranulfo Marquez said.

He said the dead were all Mexicans on a chartered bus traveling to Veracruz, a colonial city and major port.

The crash happened near the Pico de Orizaba, a dormant volcano and Mexico's tallest mountain at over 18,300 feet (5,600 metres).

Sixty people were on board the bus, police said.

REUTERS PDS PM0102