Excerpts From the Daily Press Briefing Pertaining to Western Hemisphere Affairs Full Briefing
MR. WOOD: Good afternoon, everybody. Welcome to the briefing.
I’d just like to start out with this bus crash in
Mexico. Our heartfelt condolences go out to the families of those killed and to those injured in this tragedy. Consular staff and the U.S. Consulate General in Monterrey and the U.S. Consular Agency in Reynosa worked long into the night to learn identities of the crash victims and provide assistance to them and to their families. Consular officials have visited Americans injured in the crash and are providing the full range of consular services.
Thus far, local officials have confirmed that eight American citizens were killed in the crash, with 11 American citizens believed to be injured and hospitalized. Local officials have confirmed the identifies of four of the American citizens killed, and we are working to confirm the identities of the other four killed in the same incident. Pending confirmation of the identities of the deceased and notification of next of kin, and out of respect for the families’ privacies, we will not release the names of the deceased.
Consular affairs has a number for family and friends of the victims to call for more information. That number is 1-888-407-4747. I’ll repeat, 1-888-407-4747.
And that’s all I have.
QUESTION: What is the full range of consular services?
MR. WOOD: Well, Matt, certainly trying to find --
QUESTION: I mean, I’m sorry. I don’t – I mean, what can they – how can they help?
MR. WOOD: Well, they try to help – they look at some of the families’ requests for information. It could be for identification documents. There are all sorts of services that our consular officials try to provide. I don’t have a list of them for you here. We can always – we can get you that. But you can imagine in circumstances like this, that there are a number of requests from the families with regard to the remains, with regard where the person was – person or persons was staying, and trying to get information, belongings, a whole list of things. So our consular folks try to provide assistance where they can.
QUESTION: Robert, where did that happen exactly?
MR. WOOD: I believe this was in Monterrey.
