A passenger bus lost control and veered off the road into a 75-foot (25-meter) deep canyon in southern Mexico early Wednesday, killing at least 29 passengers, officials said.

The incident occurred in the largely indigenous Mixteca region in the southern state of Oaxaca.

The state’s interior minister, Jesús Romero, said 27 people died in the crash, including a 1 1/2-year-old child. He said that about 20 people were injured in the accident, some of them in serious condition.

His office later said the death toll had risen to 29 after two victims succumbed to their injuries in hospital.

Romero said the bus driver appeared to have lost control of the vehicle and fell into the rut.

“It appears that lack of skill and fatigue caused the accident,” Romero told a local television station.

Pictures distributed by the police indicate that the bus overturned, completely destroying the passenger compartment.

The bus set off from Mexico City to take passengers to a number of small, remote mountain villages in the impoverished Mixteca region.

The road, the belongings, the bundles and baskets strewn among the wreckage indicate that the victims were people working in manual labor in the capital and returning to their home towns.