TUXTLA GUTIERREZ, Mexico - At least 49 people, most of them migrants from Central America, died in a trailer crash in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas, officials said on Thursday (Dec 9), in one of the worst road accidents to hit the country in recent years.
The accident occurred when a large trailer overturned on a dangerous curve outside the city of Tuxtla Gutierrez, said Luis Manuel Garcia, head of the Chiapas civil protection agency.
Reuters images show a white trailer flipped onto its side on a highway, with some people splayed out on tarps on the ground for medical care. Images also show rows of what appear to be bodies of the accident victims wrapped in white cloths.
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The fatalities included men, women and children, added Garcia, speaking in an interview with Milenio Television.
The accident also injured 58 people, who were taken to hospitals in the area, Garcia said. Three were gravely injured.
Migrants fleeing poverty and violence in Central America typically trek through Mexico to reach the US border, and sometimes cram into large trucks organized by smugglers in extremely dangerous conditions.