Authorities said at least 53 people were killed in Mexico on Thursday after a truck they were on flipped over. The accident is one of the deadliest to have occurred involvement Central Americans risking their lives to get to the U.S. border.
Civil protection authorities said the trailer carrying the migrants broke off after the truck towing it had crashed on a sharp curve near the city of Tuxtla Guiterrez in the Mexican state of Chiapas. Video footage of the aftermath was uploaded online, showing several bodies of victims wrapped in white cloth.
Investigators claimed that the trailer likely wasn't able to handle the weight of the people. A survivor said that the trailer broke off when the truck took a bend at high speed. Several people who had survived the accident had been taken to hospitals in Chiapas. Witnesses said more than 100 people were inside the trailer when the accident occurred.
Among those that were killed were women and children. President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador expressed his sorrow over the accident, describing it as a "very painful" incident.
Mexican rescue workers rushing to a highway accident found a horrific scene of death and injury after a freight truck jammed with as many as 200 migrants crashed into the base of a steel pedestrian bridge in Mexico. The death toll stands at 53. https://t.co/RWNpNPQNx6 — The Associated Press (@AP) December 10, 2021
Trucks carrying hundreds of people from Central America often take dangerous roads through Mexico to reach the U.S. Most migrants had fled their countries to escape poverty and violence.
The migrants resort to hiring illegal smugglers who then cram them into large trucks. Last month, Mexican authorities discovered two trucks that were packed with around 600 people.
Authorities said that the journey from Guatemala through Mexico is dangerous, and a lot of migrants die along the way because of criminal gangs and accidents. In January, 19 migrants were killed in Northern Mexico in a shooting incident allegedly involving police officers.
As migrants strive to take advantage of U.S. President Joe Biden's vow to adopt more humanitarian immigration policies than his predecessor, record numbers of people have flocked at the country's borders this year.
Mexican authorities in Chiapas have begun moving migrants from the southern city of Tapachula to other parts of the country in an attempt to discourage them from joining caravans trekking hundreds of miles to the U.S. border.
The Biden administration has urged migrants not to flee their homelands for the U.S., and a Trump-era policy of sending asylum claimants back to Mexico to await court hearings has been reinstated this week.
Chiapas Governor Rutilio Escandon said Mexico would be offering free lodging and humanitarian visas to the victims of the accident. Escandon added that they would also be launching an investigation into the matter and placing those involved in the smuggling of migrants accountable.
