By Jacob Garcia

TUXTLA GUTIERREZ, Mexico (Reuters) -A lot of the 54 individuals killed and the handfuls who had been injured when a truck filled with migrants flipped over in southern Mexico on Thursday had been Guatemalans, authorities stated on Friday, as survivors relived the horror of the accident.

Individuals spilled from the truck carrying an estimated 166 vacationers after it crashed on a curve outdoors the town of Tuxtla Gutierrez within the state of Chiapas, inflicting one of many worst demise tolls of migrants in Mexico up to now decade.

The Mexican Legal professional Normal’s workplace stated it might examine the incident, which state officers in Chiapas stated had claimed the lives of 54 individuals and injured 58 others.

Authorities recognized 95 Guatemalans among the many individuals caught up within the accident, in addition to three individuals from the Dominican Republic, a Honduran, a Mexican and an Ecuadorean.

Lists of individuals being handled in hospital revealed on social media confirmed dozens of Guatemalan migrants among the many survivors. Native residents stated different individuals fled the scene, apparently to evade arrest after the truck rolled over.

An unidentified Guatemalan man interviewed on the scene stated that when the trunk driver tried to barter the bend, the load of individuals inside precipitated the automobile flip over.

“The trailer could not deal with the load of individuals,” he stated.

In hospitals, docs tended to shaken-up survivors of the crash who had damaged bones, and suffered cuts and bruises.

Emerson (NYSE:) Morales, 23, from Guatemala’s Quiche area, sat slumped on a hospital cot on the Crimson Cross in Tuxtla Gutierrez with darkish purple scratches and bruising seen on his shoulder.

He had additionally harm his hip and neck and couldn’t discover the 17-year-old cousin he had set off with for the USA.

“I really feel unhealthy,” he stated. “My essential fear proper now could be for him.”

The top of Mexico’s Nationwide Guard, Luis Rodriguez, informed a authorities information convention that the motive force of the truck fled the scene and that the migrants on board informed authorities they’d entered Chiapas just a few days earlier than the accident happened.

There they stayed in so-called secure homes run by teams of suspected individuals smugglers earlier than touring, Rodriguez stated.

THE AMERICAN DREAM

The general public killed within the accident had been from Guatemala, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador informed the information convention. A lady of 16 was among the many lifeless, he stated.

Hundreds of migrants fleeing poverty and violence in Central America journey by way of Mexico every month to succeed in the U.S. border. They usually cram inside giant vans organized by smugglers in harmful situations.

Nationwide and worldwide leaders expressed consternation on the demise toll and urged migrants to not strive their luck in making the journey north to the USA.

“Human smugglers disregard human life for their very own revenue. Please do not danger your lives emigrate irregularly,” Ken Salazar, the U.S. ambassador to Mexico, stated on Twitter (NYSE:).

Many migrants fall prey to felony gangs en route. In January, 19 individuals, principally migrants, had been massacred with suspected police involvement in northern Mexico.

Report numbers of individuals have been arrested on the U.S.-Mexico border this yr as migrants search to capitalize on President Joe Biden’s pledge to pursue extra humane immigration insurance policies than his hardline predecessor, Donald Trump.

Many survivors of the accident, together with Ciriaco Rodriguez, a Guatemalan who fractured his arm, stated they received into the trailer to make a brand new life for themselves in the USA.

“Greater than something it was to get to the American Dream,” Rodriguez informed Reuters.