JACKSONVILLE, Fl : Jacksonville family narrowly avoids fatal Mexican tour bus crash on Saturday, December, 23rd 2017

A Jacksonville family returned home Saturday after they narrowly avoided boarding a Mexican tour bus that flipped over, killing 12 people.

There were only four seats left on the tour bus headed to nearby Mayan ruins. The Whittens tried to catch it, but they’re a family of five, so they took the next bus, avoiding the deadly crash.

John and Michelle Whitten, along with their three children, were traveling aboard Royal Caribbean’s Serenade of the Seas.

"(It was) our first cruise ever and it could've been our last," Michell said.

Driver negligence and speed caused the crash in southern Mexico that killed eight Americans, two Swedes, one Canadian and a Mexican tour guide as they traveled from cruise ships to visit nearby Mayan ruins, officials said Wednesday.

"there were only four seats left, so we had to take the bus behind us," Michelle said. "The family of four that died, they took out seats."

Quintana Roo state prosecutors said a preliminary manslaughter investigation indicated the driver lost control of the bus and when he tried to get back on the narrow highway, the bus flipped, struck a tree and landed in vegetation along the roadside.

"Due to a lack of care the driver lost control of the bus' steering to the right, leaving the asphalt," state prosecutor Miguel Angel Pech Cen said at a news conference. He said evidence found at the scene indicated the driver was going too fast.

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Jacksonville family narrowly avoids fatal Mexican tour bus crash