Mexico: At least 54 dead after migrant lorry crashes into bridge
10 December 2021, 08:48
At least 54 people have died after a lorry carrying around 200 migrants crashed into a pedestrian bridge in southern Mexico.
Scores more people have been injured, according to local authorities.
Luis Manuel Moreno, head of the Chiapas state civil defence office, said about 21 of the injured had serious wounds and were taken to local hospitals.
It was one of the worst single-day death tolls for migrants in Mexico since 2010, when 72 migrants were killed by the Zetas drug cartel in Tamaulipas.
About 200 migrants may have been packed into the lorry, said Guatemala's top human rights official, Jordan Rodas.
It was suggested that the sheer weight of the load combined with the speed and nearby curve may have been enough to throw the truck off balance.
Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei 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."
The lorry had originally been a closed freight module of the kind used to transport perishable goods. The container was smashed open by the force of the impact. It was unclear if the driver survived.
