Truck Overloaded With Migrants Causes Massive Deadly Crash

More than 50 people were killed and at least 100 others were injured when a truck loaded with migrants wrecked in Mexico on Thursday.

The head of the state Civil Protection Service, Luis Manuel García Moreno, said a truck carrying more than 150 people had overturned in what was the deadliest accident he had ever seen.

The truck was filled with passengers who were primarily migrants from Central America and was traveling at an “excessive” speed when it rounded a sharp curve and overturned. After flipping, the truck crashed into a pedestrian bridge.

“My solidarity is with the victims of the traffic accident,” Rutilio Escandón, the governor said, adding that as of Thursday night there were 105 people receiving medical treatment.

“I have given instructions to provide prompt attention and assistance to the injured,” Escandón said. “Responsibility will be determined according to the law.”

Migrants attempting to enter the U.S. are commonly crammed into vehicles and oftentimes face danger and violence along the way. In January the bodies of 19 migrants, were discovered in a charred pickup truck near the U.S.-Mexico border.

“The rising migrant death toll in the region is highly alarming,” said Michele Klein-Solomon, regional director of the International Organization for Migration for Central, North America, and the Caribbean. At least 750 migrants traveling north have been killed in Mexico since 2014.

The “Remain in Mexico” program, which has been criticized by human rights groups, requires migrants to wait until their hearing to come into the U.S., was reinstituted by the Biden Administration last week.

“Under the Remain in Mexico program, the United States and Mexico have knowingly put thousands of asylum seekers’ lives in danger,” Ari Sawyer, a researcher for Human Rights Watch, said in a statement Thursday.