At least 10 migrants have been killed and 25 others injured after a cargo truck clandestinely carrying them overturned on a highway in southern Mexico. The accident took place early on Sunday in the Mexican state of Chiapas near the border with Guatemala.
A source in the prosecutor’s office who spoke on grounds of anonymity told AFP news agency the victims were apparently from Cuba and all were women, including one minor. The incident occurred on a stretch of highway along the Pacific coast between the towns of Pijijiapan and Tonala, where people often travel as they attempt to reach the United States.
The truck, whose body was partially built of wood, was destroyed, with the migrants’ clothes, bags and backpacks strewn around it. Journey through the Darien Gap: Mexican authorities overwhelmed by surge
Thousands of migrants from different countries travel across Mexico in buses, trailers and freight trains as they head for the US.
It was the second fatal crash in less than a week involving migrants in Mexico. On Thursday, two migrants died when a truck overturned in the municipality of Mezcalapa, also in Chiapas state.
In August, at least 15 people were killed when a crowded bus carrying primarily Venezuelan migrants and asylum seekers collided with a trailer on a highway in Mexico that connects the states of Puebla and Oaxaca, a route known to be used by migrant smugglers.
In July, another bus in Oaxaca plunged off a steep road, killing as many as 27 people. Another 18 people were killed in a crash in April. And in February, migrants from Venezuela, Colombia, and Central America were involved in a bus crash, again between Oaxaca and Puebla, that left at least 17 dead.
Crashes are just one of the many perils migrants and asylum seekers face as they journey north to the US-Mexico border, a common destination. Many must also confront dangerous jungle passages, criminal gangs, and the risk of extended detention.
