Mexico crash: 53 killed as truck smuggling migrants overturns, officials say
ByMichelle Ewing, Cox Media Group National Content Desk
ByMichelle Ewing, Cox Media Group National Content Desk
TUXTLA GUTIERREZ, Mexico — At least 53 people are dead and 54 hurt after a cargo truck filled with migrants overturned and crashed in southern Mexico, authorities said.
According to The Associated Press, the rollover crash occurred Thursday in Tuxtla Gutierrez, Chiapas state. As many as 200 migrants were believed to be in the trailer when it flipped and struck the bottom of a pedestrian bridge, the AP reported.
One of the survivors, Celso Pacheco of Guatemala, said most of the migrants were from Guatemala and Honduras, according to the AP. About eight to 10 young children were aboard the truck, he said.
Survivors told authorities that they boarded the truck in Mexico, near the Guatemalan border, and paid from $2,500 to $3,500 to be taken to Mexico’s Puebla state, the AP reported. They then expected to meet up with another set of smugglers, who would transport them to the U.S. border, the migrants said.
“I deeply regret the tragedy caused by the overturning of a trailer in Chiapas carrying Central American migrants,” he tweeted in Spanish. “It is very painful. I embrace the families of the victims.”
Lamento profundamente la tragedia ocasionada por la volcadura de un tráiler en Chiapas que transportaba migrantes centroamericanos. Es muy doloroso. Abrazo a los familiares de las víctimas.
“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,” he wrote in Spanish.
Lamento profundamente la tragedia en el Estado de Chiapas y me solidarizo con las familias de las víctimas a quienes ofrecemos toda la asistencia consular necesaria incluyendo las repatriaciones.
Photos: Mexico truck crash leaves dozens of migrants dead A truck that was transporting migrants is seen rolled over after a traffic accident that killed migrants from Central America on December 9, 2021, in Tuxtla Gutierrez, Mexico. (Alfredo Pacheco/Getty Images)
Photos: Mexico truck crash leaves dozens of migrants dead People observe a truck that rolled over after a traffic accident that was transporting migrants from Central America on December 9, 2021, in Tuxtla Gutierrez, Mexico. (Alfredo Pacheco/Getty Images)
Photos: Mexico truck crash leaves dozens of migrants dead Mexican national guard officers work in the area where a trucked rolled over after a traffic accident that killed migrants from Central America on December 9, 2021, in Tuxtla Gutierrez, Mexico. (Alfredo Pacheco/Getty Images)
Photos: Mexico truck crash leaves dozens of migrants dead Mexican national guard officers work in the area after a traffic accident that killed migrants from Central America on December 9, 2021, in Tuxtla Gutierrez, Mexico. (Alfredo Pacheco/Getty Images)
Photos: Mexico truck crash leaves dozens of migrants dead Mexican police and national guard officers work in the area after a traffic accident that killed migrants from Central America on December 9, 2021, in Tuxtla Gutierrez, Mexico. (Alfredo Pacheco/Getty Images)
Photos: Mexico truck crash leaves dozens of migrants dead Mexican police officers and national guard work in the area after a traffic accident that killed migrants from Central America on December 9, 2021, in Tuxtla Gutierrez, Mexico. (Alfredo Pacheco/Getty Images)
Photos: Mexico truck crash leaves dozens of migrants dead Mexican police and national guard officers work in the area after a traffic accident that killed migrants from Central America on December 9, 2021, in Tuxtla Gutierrez, Mexico. (Alfredo Pacheco/Getty Images)
Photos: Mexico truck crash leaves dozens of migrants dead Workers remove the container from the trailer of a truck that crashed with migrants aboard during a road accident in Tuxtla Gutierrez, Chiapas state, Mexico, on December 9, 2021. (GABRIELA COUTINO/AFP via Getty Images)
Photos: Mexico truck crash leaves dozens of migrants dead Workers remove the container from the trailer of a truck that crashed with migrants aboard during a road accident in Tuxtla Gutierrez, Chiapas state, Mexico, on December 9, 2021. (GABRIELA COUTINO/AFP via Getty Images)
Photos: Mexico truck crash leaves dozens of migrants dead Workers remove the container from the trailer of a truck that crashed with migrants aboard during a road accident in Tuxtla Gutierrez, Chiapas state, Mexico, on December 9, 2021. (GABRIELA COUTINO/AFP via Getty Images)
