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One year after the collapse of Line 12 of the Mexico City metro: what happened and how the investigations are progressing

2022-05-03T21:55:16.409Z


After a year of the collapse on Line 12 of the Mexico City metro, we review what happened and how the investigations into what happened are progressing.


Prosecutor's Office reveals new details of the subway collapse (October 2021) 3:18

(CNN Spanish) --

The clock marked 10:11 at night, Mexico City time, on May 3, 2021 when, surprisingly, an elevated section of line 12 of the Mexican capital's metro collapsed. , killing 26 people and injuring a hundred others.

A year after that tragedy, there is not a single detainee, according to the capital authorities themselves.

The result of the investigations

The final expert reports presented by a Norwegian company in September of last year determined that structural flaws in the construction of the work, such as lack of fusion of the bolts and the beam, poorly completed or executed welds, porosity, among other deficiencies, contributed to the collapse of one of the sections of line 12, the youngest of the city's metro.

Something similar was found in the investigations carried out by experts and experts from the Attorney General's Office of the capital of Mexico, released a month later.

These expert opinions also concluded that construction errors, such as poorly placed bolts or poorly made welds, could not be detected in inspections since they could not be seen with the naked eye because they were inside the structures.

This Monday, the head of the Prosecutor's Office, Ernestina Godoy, said that the evidence of these expert reports is irrefutable and assured that there was no impunity in the investigations.

She also reiterated the capital government's commitment to the families of the victims and others affected by the tragedy.

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Godoy said that, as part of the investigations, some 388 direct and indirect victims of the tragedy were interviewed.

294 opinions were also prepared in criminalistics, photography, videos, architecture, topography, structural safety, among others.

“The evidence, the evidence obtained, the scientific analyzes of experts in various fields and the work of public ministries, prosecutors, experts and investigative police allowed us to determine that the collapse was caused by various errors in its construction, and the design had deficiencies that It put the long-term structural stability of the work at risk,” said the official from the capital.

This is how the fallen section of the subway was in Mexico City 2:07

Godoy announced that progress could be made in the agreement between authorities and Carso Infraestructura y Construcción, CICSA, which includes the reconstruction of the elevated section of metro line 12, "which will soon allow the inhabitants of Mexico City to use it safely. and thereby guarantee the non-repetition of events such as those that occurred,” said the capital prosecutor.

The construction company Carso, which participated in the construction of the collapsed elevated section, told CNN it had no comment on the report from the Prosecutor's Office.

The reconstruction of line 12 of the metro

At the end of June of last year, Carlos Slim, owner of Carso, confirmed that he had agreed with the Mexican president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, to pay the cost of the reconstruction of the section that collapsed, as well as its rehabilitation.

In October of last year, Carlos Slim's company, Grupo Carso, stated that the payment of compensation to those affected as part of the reparation agreement does not mean that "it caused or is responsible for the unfortunate event of May 3 on line 12 of the meter"

CNN sought to have a comment from the company Ingenieros Civiles Asociados, ICA, which also participated in the construction of Line 12 of the subway, regarding a lawsuit against it, which would have been filed by legal representatives of survivors and relatives of the victims in court. of New York, without so far having an answer.

This Tuesday, in his press conference, López Obrador the president referred to the disposition of the construction companies involved in the work to rehabilitate line 12. “The commitment was made to rehabilitate the road that was fractured as soon as possible because it is a very important transportation system for thousands of people in Mexico City.

In this case, the companies decided to help without charging, the section that was affected by the tragedy, corresponded to a Carlos Slim company," said the Mexican president.

Regarding the ICA company, the president said that it is also complying: “ICA also participated and they are complying.

Here what has to be concluded is that of responsibility, reparation of the damage, listening, better said, continuing to listen, paying attention to how the families of the victims deserve it”.

Who are responsible for the collapse of the subway line 12?

Since October of last year and to date, four hearings have been held against eight former capital officials and two representatives of construction companies, who are being investigated for their alleged responsibility in the collapse of the elevated section of line 12.

The last hearing took place this Monday, but was suspended by a control judge, who decided to postpone it until June 6 because one of the accused was absent.

The capital prosecutor's office has said that those named, whose names have not been released, could be charged with the crimes of homicide, injury and property damage, although their lawyers insist that their clients are not responsible for what happened.

A trailer takes one of the train cars after the collapse.

(Credit: Hector Vivas/Getty Images)

In this case, the city authorities have given priority to what they call a restorative justice mechanism, for which they have promoted reparation agreements with the families of the victims.

“Until now, reparation agreements have been signed with 90% of the people who suffered injuries and the relatives of those who unfortunately died,” the capital prosecutor revealed on Monday.

Godoy pointed out that “traditionally it is thought that justice consists only of jail for those who must be punished;

however, it has been shown that to achieve true justice we must start with the aggrieved people, with the victims, that is what we know as restorative justice”.

But one year after these tragic events, the clamor for justice among some of those affected and relatives of the deceased still persists.

Subway crash victim: This takes for life 2:53

The victims

Sergio Santiago Piña's life changed forever on the night of May 3, 2021. He was on the subway at the time of the collapse, which caused serious hip injuries.

“I had a life plan, I had dreams, of wanting to do different things.

But I don't know if I'm going to be able to do them again," Piña said last Thursday, April 28, during a press conference in which her lawyers presented a technical report carried out by independent experts and experts, with which they try to demonstrate that the tragedy it could have been avoided.

“Let's say that time, use, water, are going to erode any construction and any structure.

This is the case and that could be fixed with effort, with dedication, with a review of the structures and taking maintenance as a responsibility for society”, assured Tomás Andrade, one of the independent experts who presented the report to the press together with with a group of twelve affected by the tragedy of May 3, including injured and relatives of the deceased who demand justice and prison for those responsible for the tragedy.

Line 12 of the Mexico City metro was inaugurated on October 30, 2012 by the current secretary of foreign affairs, Marcelo Ebrard, who at that time was head of the capital's government.

After the tragedy, the official showed his willingness to collaborate with the authorities to help clarify this tragedy that mourned Mexico and in which there are still more questions than answers about what happened.

Source: cnnespanol

All news articles on 2022-05-03

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