U.S. Nationals Among Ten Killed in Fiery Jalisco Highway Pileup

Four Americans were among the victims of a fiery multi-vehicle crash in Mexico that left at least ten people dead and about ten others injured.

The massive pileup occurred Sunday when a tractor‑trailer suffered a brake failure and slammed into a line of vehicles that had stopped on a highway in the western state of Jalisco, according to the Secretariat of Security and Citizen Protection of Nayarit.

While Jalisco civil protection officials reported ten fatalities, Mexico’s Army, Air Force and National Guard confirmed nine deaths, including two minors, as reported by Reuters.

Jalisco Civil Protection said four Americans sustained minor injuries and were taken to a local hospital.

A vehicle was left charred and mangled following a massive multi-vehicle pileup in Jalisco, Mexico, on Sunday. (Secretariat of Security and Citizen Protection of Nayarit)

Four patients in minor condition, all U.S. citizens, were transferred to the Arboledas Hospital in Guadalajara by a private ambulance from the highway, Jalisco Civil Protection said.

Reuters reported that two of those killed were minors.

Two of the injured were later identified as National Guard members who suffered serious injuries and were taken to a hospital in Guadalajara, according to Reuters.

Videos circulating on social media appeared to show several vehicles engulfed in flames along the highway linking Guadalajara and Tepic, sending multiple plumes of black smoke into the air.

A firefighter works to douse the smoking engine of a destroyed vehicle after a devastating highway collision in Jalisco, Mexico, on Sunday. (Secretariat of Security and Citizen Protection of Nayarit)

According to Mexican officials, the crash happened when a tractor‑trailer apparently suffered a brake failure and slammed into a line of vehicles that had stopped because of an earlier accident.

“According to initial reports, a trailer reportedly suffered a failure in its braking system and ended up crashing into several vehicles that were stopped due to a prior incident,” Mexico’s Army, Air Force and National Guard said in a post on X.

Mexican authorities inspect the incinerated frame of a tractor-trailer on a highway connecting Guadalajara and Tepic in Jalisco, Mexico, on Sunday. (Secretariat of Security and Citizen Protection of Nayarit)

Firefighters later extinguished the blaze, officials said.

Local outlet El Financiero reported that the driver of the tractor‑trailer was detained by the National Guard.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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