Migrants killed in Mexico train derailment
Hundreds were U.s.-bound aboard ‘The Beast’
An infamous cargo train carrying at least 250 Central American migrants heading to the U.S. derailed in a remote region of southern Mexico on Sunday, killing five and injuring 16, authorities said.
The train company and rescue workers were bringing in two cranes to help search for more victims among the eight derailed cars of the train known as “The Beast,” officials said. Thousands of migrants ride its roof on their way north each year, braving brutal conditions for a chance at crossing into the United States.
The Tabasco state government said at least 250 Honduran migrants were on the train heading north from the Guatemala border.
Heavy rains had loosened the earth and shifted the rails, officials said.
The locomotive and first car did not derail and were used to move victims to the nearest hospital, which was in the neighbouring state of Veracruz.
Tabasco state Civil Protection chief Cesar Burelo Burelo said the accident took place at 3 a.m. Sunday in a marshy area surrounded by lakes and forest that is out of cellphone range.
The Red Cross said dozens of soldiers, marines and civilian emergency workers rushed to the area, which ambulances couldn’t reach.
Mario Bustillos Borge, the Red Cross chief in Tabasco, described the rescue as “a complex situation” that was making it difficult to get rapid confirmation of the true number of dead and injured.