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Fifty-four migrants from Central America were killed and several dozen more injured after a truck they were traveling in flipped over in southern Mexico on Thursday (December 9).
Video footage showed the truck's trailer breaking open, leading to migrants spilling out after the vehicle crashed a sharp curve outside Tuxtla Gutierrez in the state of Chiapas, which borders Guatemala, en route to the United States, NBC News reports.
Chiapas Governor Rutilio Escandon confirmed 49 individuals were killed at the scene while five more were pronounced dead after receiving medical attention in relation to the crash.
“It took a bend, and because of the weight of us people inside, we all went with it,” a Guatemalan man sitting at the scene in footage broadcast on social media said with a shocked reaction. “The trailer couldn’t handle the weight of people.”
Local authorities confirmed more than 100 people were inside the trailer at the time of the crash, which included several dozen being transported to hospitals in the area.
A witness told Reuters survivors could be heard crying at the scene as emergency personnel responded to the crash, which took place by a highway footbridge.
Reuters' report included a photos of a white trailer shown on its side, as well as individuals injured on the ground and what appeared to be bodies wrapped in white cloth at the scene.