At least 20 dead in Mexico metro collapse
Mexico city: An elevated metro line collapsed in the Mexican capital, leaving at least 23 people dead and dozens injured as a train came plunging down, authorities said.
Carriages were seen hanging from the overpass in a tangle of twisted cables with the ends pointing towards the ground in a V-shape.
“Unfortunately there are 23 deceased,” including minors, Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum told reporters at the scene in the south of the capital yesterday.
Around 70 others were injured in the dramatic accident, one of the worst to strike the Mexico City metro since it was inaugurated in 1969.
Hundreds of police officers and firefighters cordoned off the scene as desperate friends and relatives of people believed to be on the trains gathered outside the security perimeter.
But the work later had to be paused because of fears the wreckage was too unstable.
“For now the rescue has been suspended because the train is very weak. A crane is coming to continue” the work, Sheinbaum said.
A car was trapped under the rubble, but a person inside managed to get out alive, she added.
“Suddenly I saw that the structure was shaking,” an unidentified witness told the Mexican television network Televisa.
“When the dust cleared we ran... to see if we could help. There were no screams. I don’t know if they were in shock,” she added.
The accident occurred when a section of the elevated tracks collapsed at the Olivos station at around 1pm, she said.
The Mexico City subway has 12 lines and carries millions of passengers each day.
The collapse occurred on the newest of the Mexico City subway’s lines, Line 12, which stretches far into the city’s southside.
Like many of the city’s dozen subway lines, it runs underground through more central areas of the city of nine million, but then runs on elevated, pre-formed concrete structures on the city’s outskirts.
The collapse could represent a major blow for Mexican foreign relations secretary Marcelo Ebrard, who was Mexico City’s mayor from 2006 to 2012, when Line 12 was built.
Allegations about poor design and construction on the subway line emerged soon after Ebrard left office as mayor.
The line had to be partly closed in 2013 so tracks could be repaired.