At least 13 dead in interoceanic train derailment in Oaxaca

At least 13 people died and 98 were injured after the interoceanic train crossing the Isthmus of Tehuantepec derailed this Sunday morning near the town of Nizanda, in the state of Oaxaca, as confirmed by the Secretary of the Navy. There were 250 people on the train: 241 passengers and 9 crew members. Authorities confirmed that of the hundred injured, 36 passengers were hospitalized with serious injuries, and five of them are in serious condition.

The derailment occurred when the main engine left the track. The convoy is made up of two locomotives and four passenger cars. The train was traveling on line Z, which runs from Salina Cruz, in the province of Oaxaca, to Coatzacoalcos, in the state of Veracruz. The line belongs to the Mexican government and is part of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec Interoceanic Corridor project, which since 2023 aims to reactivate railways in southern Mexico.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum sent a message on her social networks in which she assured that emergency organizations are caring for passengers affected by the derailment. “The injured are in the IMSS hospitals in Matías Romero and Salina Cruz, as well as IMSS-Bienestar in Juchitán and Ixtepec,” he wrote.