At least 26 people killed in crash between trailer and van in Mexico 

A crash between a freight truck and a passenger van on a highway in northern Mexico left at least 26 people dead on Sunday, authorities reported. 

The accident took place on the Hidalgo-Zaragoza highway about two hours away from Ciudad Victoria, the capital of the state of Tamaulipas, the Tamaulipas’ public security ministry said. The crash caused the trailer and the van to be consumed by fire. The cause of the accident is still under investigation. 

Prosecutors and police said that the death toll might be higher than initially reported because the wreckage and the fire have made it hard to count the bodies. 

When the Civil Protection agents first arrived at the scene, they found the bodies of a child and a woman. Later, when the firemen managed to extinguish the fire caused by the collision of the vehicles, they found several charred bodies inside the van.

According to local media, the victims inside the van belonged to a single family, who had been on an outing together and were returning home. Authorities have yet to confirm the identities of the victims. 

When police arrived at the scene, they found that the cab of the freight trailer was missing, suggesting that the driver might have fled the scene after unhooking it. 

There have been several large crashes in Mexico that have been linked to migrant smuggling in the past. One of the latest incidents took place in early March in Veracruz. Authorities found 103 migrants, many of them unaccompanied minors, in the bed of a trailer. The truck had been abandoned on the side of the road.

With the cab missing, authorities are looking into whether the accident could be related to a human trafficking scheme.