23 dead, 70 injured in Mexico City metro overpass collapse
One person trapped in a car underneath the wreckage was pulled out alive.
PRETORIA, May 4 (ANA) – A metro overpass collapsed on Monday in Mexico City as a train was travelling over it, killing at least 23 people and leaving 70 injured, the CNN reported on Tuesday.
The US broadcaster cited Mexico’s Secretariat of Risk Management and Civil Protection saying the train was travelling on an elevated part of the city’s rapid transit system on the newest Line 12, when part of the overpass collapsed onto the traffic below.
The crash happened around 10pm local time on Monday.
BBC said two train carriages were seen hanging from the structure, above a busy road.
“One person trapped in a car underneath the wreckage was pulled out alive,” the British broadcaster said in a story on its website.
Aljazeera said some family members were still searching for their loved ones.
Cristian Segura Osorio told the Associated Press he had visited three hospitals searching for his sister Angelica Segura Osorio, who he believes would have been travelling on the metro carriage when the incident took place.
He said the mother of two was not answering calls to her cell phone or WhatsApp messages. She also does not appear in the patient list of several hospitals where they have searched for her.
According to Aljazeera’s report, foreign minister Marcelo Ebrard, who was city mayor when the overpass was built, added that it was the most terrible accident to have hit the local transport system, and that he was ready to cooperate with authorities in the investigation.
“I share the indignation that exists,” he was quoted saying.
A passenger, 26-year-old woman, told a Mexican newspaper, El Universal, that she and other people trapped among the carriage’s twisted metal managed to escape through a window.
“We only heard a loud thunder, and everything fell apart. There were many people standing and sitting in the carriage, and when the carriage fell, we went flying and hit our heads on its roof,’’ she was quoted saying.
– African News Agency (ANA); Editing by Naomi Mackay