At least 23 people died and about 70 were injured after a sector of the elevated track on which Line 12 of the Mexico City Metro runs collapsed this Monday in the east of the capital at Olivos station.
The accident occurred shortly before 10.20 pm (local time) between the Olivos and Tezonco stations. Emergency services immediately arrived at the scene to attend to the victims and to remove the collapsed train and a crane to lower the train.
The head of Government of Mexico City, Claudia Sheinbaum, communicated on Twitter the deaths and that line 12 of the subway will remain closed:
"490 buses will operate to cover the service," he
announced. Sheinbaum clarified that 65 people were transported to different hospitals and seven are in serious condition, in surgery
"Unfortunately what happened was the expiration of a trabe (beam) when a convoy passed, all the investigations will be carried out to find out the causes that caused this accident," reported the head of government of the capital.
The Secretary of the Government of Mexico City, José Alfonso Suárez del Real, explained that the injured are being transferred to the hospitals of Tlahuac and Iztapalapa.
49 injured people were taken to these health centers.
The first video images show how two subway cars fell on the road where dozens of vehicles were circulating at the time.
Image at the station of the two Mexico City Metro wagons collapsed on an avenue. Civil Protection Mexico
In a video from the cameras of the surveillance system of the Government of Mexico City, it is observed how
the elevated structure breaks when the train collapses, from a height of about 20 meters
, and two wagons of the convoy remain in a "V" "and impacted with the floor.
The crash occurred on Tláhuac avenue, where there was moderate traffic.
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Residents of the area immediately criticized on social networks the repeated complaints they have been making about the poor condition of the structure that was damaged in the last major earthquake that Mexico City suffered in September 2017, although it is not clear that it had to watch.
The installation is part of the subway bridge built during the administration of Marcelo Ebrard, former head of government of the capital between 2006 and 2012, and now the country's chancellor.
The accident occurred just over 1 mile (about two kilometers) from the Periférico Oriente highway and dozens of agents from the Ministry of Citizen Security and Civil Protection arrived at the place, who are in the area but at the moment there are no official data about wounded and dead.
In the images shared through social networks by many users, the fallen wagons on a bus and on at least two cars can be seen.
Moments after the collapse of a Mexico City Metro bridge, Civil Protection Mexico
On January 9, there was a fire in the control center of the Mexico City Metro, in the Historic Center, which caused one death and at least 30 intoxicated workers, in addition to six lines without service.
The Metro of the Mexican capital transports about 6 million people every working day
, which makes it one of the busiest in the world, although its demand drops during the weekend.
Various citizen organizations have criticized the precariousness of the facilities and the lack of maintenance that causes frequent interruptions in the Metro service.
With information from EFE and Milenio.
