Thirteen people were killed and 98 injured when a passenger train carrying about 250 people partially derailed in southern Mexico’s Oaxaca state, authorities said.
The Mexican navy, which operates the rail line, said the locomotive left the tracks during a trip through the region. The navy initially reported 20 injured but later updated the toll to 98 injured and 13 dead.
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President Claudia Sheinbaum said she directed the secretary of the navy and other senior officials to travel to the scene and assist families affected by the derailment. No further details were immediately released on the condition of the injured or the sequence of events that led to the crash.
The line was inaugurated in 2023 as a signature infrastructure project under then-President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, intended to spur development across southeast Mexico. The navy’s operational control of the corridor is part of a broader effort to expand state stewardship over strategic transport routes in the region.
The derailment adds to safety concerns surrounding the line. On Dec. 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.
Officials did not immediately provide details on the specific location of the derailment within Oaxaca or whether all passengers and crew had been accounted for. The rail operator’s initial, lower injury count was revised upward hours later as responders assessed the scene.
The navy said efforts were underway to support victims and their families, and that federal and local agencies were coordinating at the site. Authorities did not announce any service suspensions or schedule changes on the route.
The Oaxaca corridor forms part of Mexico’s push to connect ports and industrial hubs across the south, a region long slated for investment to close economic gaps with the country’s north and center. The project’s proponents have framed the line as a catalyst for jobs and trade; critics have raised environmental and safety questions as traffic along the corridor increases.
The latest derailment is among the deadliest incidents to strike Mexico’s rail network in recent years and is likely to sharpen scrutiny on operations, maintenance and security along the route as investigators work to establish what went wrong.
By Abdiwahab Ahmed
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
