December 29 (UPI) — A train derailed in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca, killing at least 13 people and injuring 98 others, authorities said.
The train, traveling from Salina Cruz on the Pacific Coast to Coatzacoalcos on the Gulf Coast, derailed on a curve near Nizanda on Sunday.
In an update earlier Monday, President Claudia Scheinbaum said the injured were being treated at four regional hospitals, five of them in serious condition, adding that she had directed the secretary of the Navy and the deputy interior minister to go to the scene to “personally attend to the families of the victims.”
Oaxaca Governor Salomon Jara Cruz said in an online post that 139 of the 250 passengers and crew on board were safe and 36 were continuing to receive medical treatment.
Expressing “deep regret,” Jarrah Cruz said state authorities were working with federal agencies to assist those affected and pledged that his administration would do all it can to help those caught up in the accident.
Justice Minister Ernestina Godoy Ramos confirmed that the investigation was ongoing.
The train, which consists of two locomotives and four passenger cars, was traveling on the transoceanic corridor route across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, the narrowest part of Mexico that connects the Gulf Coast to the Pacific Ocean, according to the Mexican Navy, which is responsible for Mexico’s railways.
The transoceanic train began operating in 2023 under former President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador as part of efforts to modernize trans-isthmus passenger and freight lines.
The long-term goal is to expand port, rail and industrial infrastructure, spur development in the region and ultimately create a global trade route comparable to the Panama Canal.