An overpass carrying a subway train in Mexico City collapsed on Monday night, splitting the train into two parts. 15 people died in the incident and around 70 injured people are reported. According to the officials, as a result of the collapse, the train plunged towards the road and trapped at least on car under the rubble.
Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum informed via Twitter that 70 people were injured and 34 have been hospitalized. However, more people could still be trapped inside the train. According to Mexico’s Secretariat of Risk Management and Civil Protection, “The subway was traveling on an elevated and outdoor portion of the city’s rapid transit system on the newest Line 12, also known as the Golden Line, when a portion of the overpass collapsed.”
She added, “Firefighters, public safety personnel are working. Various hospitals are serving. We will give more information shortly.” Sheinbaum told “A support beam gave way”, and the beam collapsed just when the train passed over it.
A CCTV footage of the incident has been circulating that shows the overpass collapsing directly over a street with moving cars, covering everything with a cloud of dust and debris. According to the reports, the incident happened on the metro’s Line 12, which has a record of construction complaints and accusations of irregularities.
Mexico City’s Interior Minister Alfonso Suarez Del Real told that the incident took place at 10:25 pm, local time. The overpass that collapsed was about 5 meters above the road in southern Mexico City.
Although the rescuers reached the site, but the rescue efforts had to be interrupted as a part of the train and debris was unstable and still dangling in the air. As per Sheinbaum, the dangling part of the train was very weak and the rescuers had to wait for a crane to carry on with the rescue work. She told that there could be people still trapped, “we don’t know if they are alive”.
Rescue operation is still going on. Mexican foreign minister Marcelo Ebrard also tweeted, “What has happened on the metro today is a terrible tragedy,”
