Train crash in southern Mexico leaves at least 13 dead, dozens injured

Mexico City, Mexico — Officials said a train crash in southern Mexico killed at least 13 people and injured dozens more, halting traffic along a rail line linking the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico.

The interoceanic train connecting the states of Oaxaca and Veracruz derailed Sunday as it rounded a curve near the town of Nizanda.

“The Mexican Navy informed me that, tragically, 13 people died in the interoceanic train accident,” Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum posted on X, adding that 98 people were injured, five of them seriously.

She said she had asked the Secretary of the Navy and the Interior Department’s undersecretary for human rights to visit and personally assist the families.

In a message broadcast on Sunday X, the governor of the state of Oaxaca, Salomon Jara, said that several government agencies had arrived at the scene of the accident to help the injured.

Authorities said 241 passengers and nine crew members were on the train when the accident occurred.

The interoceanic train was inaugurated in 2023 by then-President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. The rail service is part of a broader effort to boost train travel in southern Mexico and develop infrastructure along the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, a narrow strip of land between the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico.

The Mexican government plans to transform the isthmus into a strategic corridor for international trade, with ports and rail lines that could connect the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. The Interoceanic Train currently connects the Pacific Ocean port of Salina Cruz to Coatzacoalcos, a distance of approximately 180 miles.