TUXTLA GUTIERREZ, Mexico – Just calculating the human cost of the horrific truck accident that killed 55 migrants and injured over 100 is terrifying, even for those who survived the disaster on a highway in southern Mexico.
About 40 of the survivors were listed with “multiple bruises” in local hospitals late Friday, and they were the fewest injured. Nearly 20 others had broken bones, often on their arms and wrists, suggesting they were trying to break the force of the impact when the trailer loaded with smuggled migrants overturned and hit a footbridge. Worst of all were people with brain injuries or severe internal damage, often with bruised chests, abdomen, or pelvis.
The force of the impact hurled migrants against each other, hit the steel sides of the trailer, and threw some onto the roadway. Enmanuel Ramón Hernández was one of the residents who came to help after the crash. He said the overwhelming weight of the migrants themselves could have caused many deaths.
“The majority [of the injuries] were from bruises or internal injuries, blows, ”said Hernández. But of the first 45 bodies laid out, he added, “They had no signs of broken bones or visible fractures. They were suffocated from one another. “
Survivors shared from their hospital beds how their position in the trailer determined who lived and died. Those unfortunate enough to drive wedged against the fragile walls of the cargo container were almost certain to die, survivors said.
Those in the middle of the group survived, cushioned by their fellow travelers when the container toppled onto the street.
“Those who died were the ones who hit the walls of the trailer,” said a young Guatemalan migrant who was being treated for a broken arm. “Thank God we were right in the middle of it. But those on the sides died. “
The migrant, who refused to give his name because he did not have proper documents in Mexico, described a gruesome scene of screaming and blood in the moments after the truck crashed into the base of the steel footbridge on Thursday. He estimated there were around 250 migrants on board. The living had to free themselves from the jumble of dead and dying corpses.
“They fell on me, there were two or three fellow travelers on top of me,” said the young person.
Then came the grim task of pulling the wounded out.
“When I got out, another fellow migrant yelled,” said the survivor. “He yelled at me, I pulled him and took him out and put him on the side of the road, but he died.”
The teen said the driver of the truck, whose whereabouts were unknown, had taken a sharp turn at high speed and lost control on a road to Tuxtla Gutierrez, the capital of the Mexican state of Chiapas.
While the Mexican government tries to appease the United States by stopping caravans of walking migrants and allowing the “stay in Mexico” policy to be reintroduced, it has been unable to stop the flood of migrants, hundreds of them in trucks that are operated by smugglers charge thousands of dollars to bring them to the US border.
Despite the cautionary story, more migrants continued toward the United States. On Thursday, following the accident, a group of nearly 400 mostly Central American migrants walked down a highway leading to Mexico City, ignoring calls from immigration officials and National Guard forces to surrender themselves.
Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed in any way without permission.
Comments are closed.