The incident occurred in Mexico’s Chiapas state, which borders Guatemala, when the truck carrying dozens of migrants crashed. Photos from the scene present the truck on its aspect subsequent to a footbridge and our bodies laid out on the street wrapped in physique luggage.
In video footage taken shortly after the accident, individuals could possibly be seen spilled out on to the street, subsequent to a white trailer that had cut up open. The car crashed on a good bend exterior the town of Tuxtla Gutierrez, the Chiapas state capital.
Children, ladies and men had been among the many useless, Reuters reported, citing the Chiapas state authorities.
A witness chatting with Reuters stated they heard sobs from survivors as rescue employees arrived on the website of the crash, by a freeway footbridge.
State Governor Rutilio Escandón tweeted that along with the deaths, 105 individuals had been injured within the crash — amongst them 83 males and 22 ladies.
Three individuals are nonetheless in a severe situation, in line with the Attorney General’s workplace.
Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard stated among the individuals who died included overseas nationals.
“My condolences to the victims and affected households. In communication with the State Government and Civil Protection. We make contact with the overseas ministries of the affected international locations,” Ebrard wrote on Twitter.
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador shared his condolences on Twitter.
“I deeply remorse the tragedy attributable to the overturning of a trailer in Chiapas carrying Central American migrants,” the President stated. “It’s very painful. I hug the households of the victims.”
It isn’t instantly clear what triggered the crash or why the victims had been crammed into the truck. However, migration is quite common from Central American international locations like Honduras, Guatemala, and Nicaragua, the place violence, corruption, meals insecurity, and a scarcity of financial alternative have left many with no different selection.
The harmful journey, typically organized by individuals smugglers, travels north via Mexico to achieve the US border.
In November, Mexican authorities reported discovering some 600 migrants hidden in two trailers touring via the state of Veracruz. The nation’s National Migration Institute stated they found 145 ladies and 455 males in closed field vehicles that had been heading north in the direction of the US border.US Border Patrol arrested a report variety of individuals for illegal crossings on the US-Mexico border over the previous 12 months. There have additionally been a report variety of individuals dying whereas making an attempt to cross the border this 12 months, in line with the International Organization for Migration.On Monday, the Biden administration relaunched the controversial Trump-era border coverage often known as “Remain in Mexico,” kicking again into gear this system that permits officers to ship non-Mexican migrants to Mexico to await their US immigration court docket hearings.
Under the Trump administration, 1000’s of migrants had been topic to this system, formally often known as Migrant Protection Protocols, and resided in makeshift camps alongside Mexico’s northern border typically in squalor and harmful situations.
President Joe Biden pledged to finish this system and started the method of admitting these migrants who had beforehand been topic to it. But a federal choose in Texas disrupted these plans when he ordered the administration to revive the coverage.
CNN’s Priscilla Alvarez contributed reporting.