At least 20 killed, 70 injured in train crash in Mexico

MEXICO CITY: TUESDAY, MAY 4, 2021 – At least 20 people have been killed in a train crash in Mexico City, officials say. At least 70 people have been injured in the incident and all the injured have been sent to hospitals for treatment.

Scenes of rescuers removing a car trapped by a train and a collapsed structure on the road with the help of a crane have been reported on local media and social media. Forty-nine of the injured have been hospitalized and seven are in critical condition, said Mexico City Mayor Claudia Shinbaum. She said the critically injured were undergoing surgery.

“One person trapped in the car has been rescued, and rescuers are searching for those trapped in the overpass and on the train,” Shinbaum said. The dead included children and women. She said it was not yet known if the other occupants of the car were alive or dead.

Marcelo Ebrard, the city’s former chief minister and foreign minister who built the bridge, called the crash a “terrible tragedy” and said the cause should be investigated and the culprits identified.

Mexico City’s rail service is one of the largest and busiest in the world, with at least two serious accidents since its inauguration half a century ago.

In March last year, one passenger was killed and 41 others were injured in a collision between two trains at Tacubaya metro station. In 2014, another train collided head-on with an untrained train in Oceania, injuring 12 people.