A metro overpass collapsed in Mexico City late Monday evening. The collapsed section of the overpass crushed passenger cars underneath and immediately sent two metro cars plummeting to the street below.
First responders, city police and even pedestrians scrambled through the debris to rescue the survivors and render aid to those who were injured in the accident late into the night and into Tuesday morning.
Local news outlets report that 24 people have died and 79 people were injured in the incident. At least one dozen of those injured are in critical condition, per Milenio. You can see footage of the collapse and subsequent derailment below:
The collapsed section of the CDMX metro ran along Line 12 over Tláhuac Avenue, between the stations at Olivos and Tezonco. The collapse occurred at 10:20 p.m. local time, while traffic bustled below the metro lines and many passengers rode aboard the metro cars, per Milenio.
Among those dead and injured in the accident are a number of children. Rescue efforts to find the youths were frustratingly slow for the families of those involved. In a statement provided to Milenio, the family of Brandon Giovanni Hernández Tapia, age 12, lamented that ten hours after the accident their son has yet to be found.
The boy’s family asked local authorities to account for their son. Meanwhile, the boy’s father has been hospitalized:
No one knows anything about him, no one knows of his whereabouts, no one knows anything about my grandson. Whether he is alive or dead, just tell us where he is. His father is in critical condition in the hospital, we have already found him, but my grandson, where is he? Where is my grandson?
Moreover, the tragic accident did not just affect those riding along metro Line 12, but also people who were travelling by car and were crushed underneath the rubble.
One married couple, José Juan Galindo Soto and wife Evelyn were driving home in their Nissan Sentra and were below the line when the Metro collapsed. The rubble crushed the sedan and trapped them inside, killing them both, per Milenio.
Authorities in Mexico have released a list of those hospitalized in the accident for reference, and a detailed statement from the Mexican government about the collapse is forthcoming. We will update this post as news of the event comes in.
