Train Derailment Kills 13 in Mexico

A passenger train carrying about 250 people partially derailed in southern Mexico on Sunday, killing at least 13 people and injuring 98 others, authorities said.

The locomotive left the tracks while travelling through Oaxaca State, according to the Mexican Navy, which operates the rail line. 

Initial reports put the number of injured at 20, but the navy later revised the figure, confirming that 98 passengers were hurt and 13 fatalities were recorded.

President Claudia Sheinbaum said she had ordered the Navy Secretary and other senior officials to travel to the scene to support emergency efforts and assist affected families.

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

The train operates on a strategic route linking the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific Ocean and carries both passengers and freight. 

The line was inaugurated in 2023 as a flagship infrastructure project under former president Andrés Manuel López Obrador, aimed at boosting development in the country’s southeast.

On December 20, a train on the same route collided with a cargo truck attempting to cross the tracks, though no deaths were reported in that incident.