At Least 13 Dead, Nearly 100 Injured in Mexico Train Derailment

At least 13 people have been killed and nearly 100 injured after a passenger train derailed in southern Mexico, authorities said.

The crash occurred Sunday between the towns of Chivela and Nizanda in Oaxaca state, along a rail line that links the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico.

Around 250 people were on board 241 passengers and nine crew according to the Mexican Navy, which oversees the route. Ninety-eight people were injured, 36 of whom required hospital treatment. President Claudia Sheinbaum said five victims remain in critical condition.

Emergency services deployed more than 360 personnel, 20 vehicles, multiple ambulances, and air support during rescue efforts. Footage from the scene showed passengers being helped from the wreckage and several people carried away on stretchers.

“We didn’t even know what happened,” said one passenger, Rosa Isela Ramírez.

Mexico’s attorney general has opened an investigation into the cause of the derailment.

The line forms part of the Interoceanic Corridor project launched in 2023 to modernize transport across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec a 180-mile freight and passenger route intended to compete with the Panama Canal.

The Mexican Navy and Oaxaca’s governor, Salomón Jara Cruz, expressed condolences to the families of those killed and said federal and state agencies are coordinating assistance for survivors.