53 killed, dozens injured in Mexico migrant truck crash 

Mexico City: In an unfortunate incident, at least 53 people were killed while 58 others sustained injuries after a speeding truck overturned in southern Mexico—with most of the victims believed to be migrants coming from Central America.  

The accident, took place in southern Chiapas State after a truck carrying over 100 people overturned on Thursday afternoon near Tuxtla Gutiérrez, the capital.  

The accident is one of the deadliest involving migrants in decades and is believed to be one of the worst accidents of its kind in Mexico. 

The accident follows the death of 13 migrants in a car accident on the U.S. border in March. 

Pictures and videos from the crash scene show victims strewn across the road next to the overturned truck.

As per preliminary reports, the truck was traveling at excessive speed and then flipped over while rounding a sharp curve—crashing into a pedestrian bridge and construction nearby. 

Authorities said that speed and the weight of the truck’s human cargo may have caused it to tip over and the curve in the road may have contributed to the crash. 

The victims included men, women and children—appeared to be immigrants from Central America, though their nationalities had not yet been confirmed.  

Local officials said most of the people in the trailer were migrants from Honduras and Guatemala.  

At least 107 people were crowded into the ill-fated vehicle. It is not unusual for freight trucks in Mexico to be carrying so many people in migrant-smuggling operations in southern Mexico.

Each year, hundreds of thousands of migrants fleeing poverty and violence in Central America try to cross through Mexico in a bid to reach the US.  

In January, bodies of 19 people, most of them migrants, were found in a charred pickup truck near the US border. A group of 12 police officers were later arrested in connection with the crime. 

According to the International Organization for Migration, at least 3,575 deaths have been documented on the United States-Mexico border since 2014 with 650 people killed attempting to cross the border this year alone.