Fire accident kills 40 immigrants, injures 29 others in Mexico

A fire accident has killed 40 people and injured 29 others in Mexico.

According to a news report on Tuesday March 28, 2023, a migrant detention center in Ciudad Juarez, a city on Mexico’s border with the United States, was gutted by fire.

The inferno, according to the office of National Migration Institute (NMI), broke out after a group of migrants from the streets of the city were picked and detained, suggesting a sabotage.

The cause of the fire or the victims’ nationalities have not been released by Mexico’s NMI, while an investigation has been launched into the blaze.

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A statement from the office of Mexico’s President, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, also provided other details into the tragedy.

“What we know so far is that migrants from Central America and some from Venezuela were in that shelter. We still do not know exactly the names and nationalities of those who unfortunately lost their lives,” Lopez Obrador said.

“This had to do with a protest that they started after, we assume, they found out that they were going to be deported, and as a protest, they put mattresses from the shelter at the door of the shelter, and they set fire to them and they did not imagine that this was going to cause this terrible accident.

“It is very sad that this is happening,” the president added.

Federal Deputy for Ciudad Juarez, Andrea Chavez, in a tweet on Tuesday, expressed her “deep sadness” over the incident.

“It is with deep sadness and grief that we learned of the fire that occurred inside the INM in Ciudad Juárez,” she said.

“We will wait for the official information and, from this moment on, we send our condolences to the families of the migrants. FGR initiated the investigation,” Chavez said.