At least 54 people were killed and dozens more injured after a lorry carrying as many as 200 migrants crashed in southern Mexico.
The migrants from Central America were crammed into the trailer when it tipped over and crashed into the base of a steel pedestrian bridge in the state of Chiapas.
Volunteer rescuers dragged bodies out as people scrambled to free themselves from the wreckage.
The dead were later laid in rows side by side on the highway covered by white sheets.
“The trailer rolled over and the driver ran off” one of the migrant survivors told Mexican TV as he sat, dazed, by the side of the road.
Advertisement
The authorities said 54 people were killed and at least 54 people had been injured making this one of the worst single-day death tolls for migrants in Mexico since the 2010 massacre of 72 migrants by the Zetas drug cartel in the northern state of Tamaulipas.
Rescue workers first on the scene said more migrants had been on board when the lorry crashed but had fled for fear of being detained by immigration agents.
Jordan Rodas, Guatemala’s top human rights official, said there may have been up to 200 people.
Luis Manuel Moreno, head of the Chiapas state civil defence office, said 21 of the injured had serious wounds and were taken to local hospitals.
Celso Pacheco of Guatemala, who survived, said the lorry was speeding and then seemed to lose control under the weight of the people inside.
Advertisement
Those on board were mostly from Guatemala and Honduras, according to Pacheco, who himself was trying to reach the United States. He estimated there were eight to ten young children in the container.
In recent months the Mexican authorities have tried to block large groups of migrants from heading towards the US border on foot.
President Giammattei of Guatemala wrote on Twitter: “I deeply regret the tragedy in Chiapas state, and I express my solidarity for the victims’ families, to whom we will offer all the necessary consular assistance, including repatriation.”
