At least 13 people died and close to 100 were injured when a train went off the tracks in Oaxaca, south-west Mexico, BBC reports.
The Interoceanic train derailed as it navigated a curve near the town of Nizanda. It was carrying 241 passengers and nine crew members. Officials reported that 36 of the injured were hospitalised, including five in serious condition, according to President Claudia Sheinbaum. Top government and naval officials were sent to oversee rescue operations at the scene.
Images from the crash site showed emergency teams helping passengers exit the train, which had partially tipped over the edge of a cliff. The train service links Salina Cruz on the Pacific coast with Coatzacoalcos on the Gulf of Mexico and included two locomotives and four passenger cars.
Governor Salomon Jara Cruz expressed deep sorrow over the accident and confirmed that state authorities were working closely with federal agencies to support the victims.
The rail line, opened two years ago under former President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, was intended to modernise transport across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec and boost regional economic growth. The project forms part of Mexico’s wider effort to expand passenger and freight rail in the south while enhancing ports and industrial infrastructure to develop a strategic trade corridor.
