Press "Enter" to skip to content

55 killed in Chiapas after migrant trafficking trailer overturns

Chiapa de Corzo, Chiapas — In a news briefing, the National Guard said that the trailer involved in the Chiapas accident that killed 55 migrants avoided all checkpoints.

“It is important to emphasize that this vehicle had not crossed any of the checkpoints that are available to rescue migrants,” said Luis Rodríguez Bucio, commander of the National Guard, during the Friday AMLO press conference.

His remarks were stressed after a Thursday accident that left 55 Central American migrants dead. The accident happened around 2:20 p.m. along a section of the Chiapa de Corzo-Tuxtla Gutiérrez highway when the driver lost control on a curve due to excessive speed.

He overturned his trailer, which was carrying 160 Central American migrants who authorities have since detailed were from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras.

Bucio said that preliminary information reports 105 injured people, 83 men and 22 women. He added that 49 people died on scene, with another six dying later in hospital.

The national coordinator of Civil Protection, Laura Velázquez Alzúa, reported that the driver of the modified Kenworth trailer, which had adaptations including air holes, fled the scene and his whereabouts remain unknown.

Authorities have since mapped out the trailer’s route, noting the vehicle crossed the border into Mexico from Guatemala several days before. The migrants stayed at a safehouse in the city of San Cristóbal de las Casas, which was heavily guarded outside.

Rodriguez Bucio also said that the driver intentionally avoided checkpoints that have been set up to detect migrant trafficking.

It was at 2:20 p.m. along the Tuxtla-Chiapa de Corzo highway where the trailer toppled on the curve and collided with the base of a pedestrian bridge. Given the magnitude of the accident, the Attorney General’s Office (FGR) reported that it is investigating.