Mexico Train Derailment: 13 Dead, Dozens Hurt

At least 13 people were killed and 98 injured when a train partially derailed in southern Mexico on Sunday, officials said. The Interoceanic Train, linking the states of Oaxaca and Veracruz, went off the rails near the town of Nizanda.

Mexico Train Derailment Kills 13, Injures Nearly 100

The Mexican Navy said the train was carrying nine crew members and 241 passengers at the time of the accident. Of those on board, 139 were reported to be out of danger, while 36 of the 98 injured were still receiving medical assistance.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said at least five of those injured were in “serious” condition. Sheinbaum stated she has directed the secretary of the navy and other senior personnel to travel to the area and assist the families of those affected, adding that the Ministry of Interior is coordinating the response.

Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office has opened an investigation to determine the cause of the derailment.

Images circulating on social media and posted by Mexican news outlets showed one of the carriages of the train on its side, while another was completely separated from the train tracks. Video clips also showed some of the passengers trapped in the derailed carriages.

A passenger told Mexico’s La Razon newspaper that the train “was coming very fast” before the derailment, adding, “We don’t know if it lost its brakes.”

Oaxaca Governor Salomon Jara Cruz expressed his government’s “heartfelt condolences to the families of those who lost their lives in this unfortunate accident.”

The train runs between the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean, carrying both passengers and freight. On December 20, a train on the same route collided with a cargo truck attempting to cross the tracks, though no deaths resulted from that incident.

The line was inaugurated in 2023 as a major infrastructure project under then-President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador to develop southeast Mexico. The initiative was designed to modernise the rail link across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, connecting Mexico’s Pacific port of Salina Cruz with Coatzacoalcos on the Gulf Coast.

The Mexican government has sought to develop the Isthmus into a strategic trade corridor, expanding ports, railways and industrial infrastructure with the goal of creating a route that could compete with the Panama Canal.