A new accident involving migrants in southern Mexico left at least 18 dead on Friday, October 6, all from Venezuela and Haiti, when their bus overturned. Fatal road accidents involving migrants are increasing in Mexico, as the flow of people trying to reach the United States continues to increase, and by increasingly dangerous means.
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This accident comes just five days after the death of ten Cuban women crammed into a truck which overturned on a road in the state of Chiapas, in the south of the country, in a context where the flow of migrants seeking to reach the States -United continues to increase.
This new tragedy cost the lives of “ two women, three minors and thirteen men, all from Venezuela and Haiti “, indicated the Attorney General of the State of Oaxaca in a press release, also reporting 27 injured. The National Migration Institute, for its part, indicated that 55 foreigners were on board the vehicle and that Peruvian nationals were among the victims, without further details.
The tragedy occurred around 5 a.m. local time (11 a.m. UT) when the driver of the bus lost control of the vehicle which overturned on a road linking the cities of Oaxaca and Cuacnopalan, in the neighboring state of Puebla, the prosecution said. The injured were transported to hospitals in the region, according to the same source.
Numerous accidents involving vehicles transporting migrants
Also last week, two migrants were killed and 27 others injured when the truck carrying them overturned in the Mexican state of Chiapas. At the beginning of August, in the west of the country, at least 18 people died and 23 others were injured in the accident of a bus which fell into a ravine. The vehicle was mainly transporting migrants.
The most serious accident occurred in December 2021 when 50 migrants crammed into the trailer of a truck died in the state of Chiapas. The truck was carrying a total of 160 migrants. Most of the victims were from Central America.
Many migrants cross Mexico illegally, crammed into buses, trucks and even freight trains, in very difficult conditions, in an attempt to reach the United States.
There “ the most dangerous land migration route in the world »
More than a thousand migrants arrived on October 3 in Ciudad Juarez, on the border between Mexico and the United States, perched on a freight train after around ten days of travel. The US Border Patrol officially recorded 1.8 million migrant crossings at its southern border between October 2022 and August 2023. A record 233,000 people crossed the southern border in August.
A report from the International Organization for Migration published on September 12 revealed that the border between the United States and Mexico has been the “ the most dangerous land migration route in the world » in 2022, with 686 deaths or missing recorded.
Venezuelans are one of the most represented nationalities among migrants who regularly arrive at the southern border of the United States. According to the UN, more than seven million people have fled Venezuela since its economy collapsed.
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(With AFP)