MEXICO CITY — At least 24 people were killed and 79 injured when an overpass suddenly collapsed on an elevated Mexico City Metro line, plunging a passenger train toward the bustling boulevard below, authorities said Tuesday.
The incident occurred at 10:22 p.m. Monday in the Tláhuac neighborhood in the southeast section of the capital on Metro Line 12, a branch that has long been dogged by complaints of poor construction.
“We heard a loud sound like thunder, and then everything came crashing down,” a 22-year-old survivor identified only as Mariana told Mexico’s El Universal newspaper. “There were a lot of people standing and sitting in the (train). ... We went flying and hit against the roof.”
Terrified commuters were trapped in the twisted train for about 15 minutes until someone managed to break a window, through which the passengers in Mariana’s subway car escaped, she told the newspaper.
The moment of the crash was captured on video posted on social media. The 10-second video, from official Mexico City security footage, shows the Metro bridge collapsing onto busy Tláhuac Avenue, where traffic was enveloped in a cloud of dust and debris.
As national guard troops Tuesday combed through mangled steel and chunks of concrete at the crash site and rescuers used a crane to try to stabilize a rail car that was still dangling precariously from the overpass, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador pledged a full investigation into what caused the accident.
“The people of Mexico have to know the whole truth — nothing will be hidden from them,” he said at his daily news conference.
Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum echoed his pledge, saying a Norwegian firm would lead a detailed inquiry.
City officials blamed “structural damage” for the collapse, saying three steel girders had fallen, but said recent inspections had not revealed any problems.
“We’re not covering up for anyone,” Sheinbaum told reporters. “We are all subject to citizen scrutiny.”
Line 12, also known as the Golden Line, was inaugurated with much fanfare in 2012.
The newest section of the Mexico City Metro system, it’s an essential part of the transportation network in a metropolitan area that is home to more than 20 million people. The Mexico City Metro, which began operations in 1969, is among the world’s busiest, carrying some 4.5 million passengers daily on workdays, both in the city and in suburban areas.
But Line 12, which cost $2 billion to build and includes underground and elevated sections, has been the subject of persistent complaints of shoddy construction.
The city suspended service on much of the line’s elevated portion in 2014 to review its safety and make repairs after engineers raised concerns. The entire line was reopened more than a year and a half later, but questions remained about its safety, even as 220,000 commuters rode it each day.
Juan Luis Diaz Galindo, a 38-year-old chauffeur, was one of them. He was returning home after a long day at work when the overpass collapsed.
His wife, Juliana Torres, and their teenage son called his phone over and over after they heard about the accident. Later, they found out he had died.
Torres said everybody was aware that the line was possibly unsafe. “It was well known,” she said. “But unfortunately we rode it because of the economy and because it was convenient.”
The mayor at the time of the line’s construction was Marcelo Ebrard, who is currently Mexico’s foreign minister and a leading candidate to replace López Obrador in the 2024 presidential election. Monday’s disaster seems certain to raise new questions about Ebrard’s role in the construction of Line 12.
In a Twitter message, Ebrard called Monday’s collapse “a terrible tragedy,” sent condolences to the families of the victims and said he was at investigators’ full disposal.
Appearing alongside López Obrador at Tuesday’s news conference, he said: “If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear.”
The crash could also have political repercussions for Sheinbaum, who is another leading contender for president.
Monday’s crash was the deadliest accident on the Mexico City Metro since a collision of two trains Oct. 20, 1975, killed 31 and injured 70. About four months ago, a fire in a Metro substation left one person dead and 29 injured, and disrupted service for weeks.
In March 2020, a crash in the Tacubaya station killed one person and injured 41.
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(Special correspondents Cecilia Sánchez and Liliana Nieto del Río in the Los Angeles Times’ Mexico City bureau contributed to this report.)
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(Special correspondent Liliana Nieto del Río contributed to this report.)
