Ten people are dead after a semi-trailer lost its brakes and slammed into at least 15 cars on the Mexico City-Toluca highway last night.
Mexico City police chief Raymundo Collins said that the 10th victim died in hospital this morning. Eight men and one woman were killed yesterday, all but one instantly.
A further 16 people were injured and are being treated in two hospitals in the capital.
The accident occurred just after 7:00pm in the Mexico City borough of Álvaro Obregón near the Santa Fe business district.
The driver of the trailer, a 41-year-old woman identified as Ana G., was uninjured.
Collins said the driver told authorities that her brakes failed and she completely lost control of the trailer, which was transporting a 24-tonne load from Toluca to Cuautitlán Izcalli, México state.
She said she had four to five years’ experience driving semi-trailers.
Security camera footage shows the truck traveling at high speed on the busy highway that links Mexico City with Toluca, the capital of neighboring México state. Accidents on the highway are common.
The mayor of Cuajimalpa, a borough next to Álvaro Obregón, said that excessive speed was to blame for yesterday’s horrific crash.
“This was caused precisely by speeding, the trailer traveled more than 400 meters without being able to brake due to the speed it was traveling at,” Adrián Ruvalcaba said.
Paramedics treated between 25 and 30 people for minor injuries at the scene of the accident. Some victims had to be cut out of their crumpled vehicles by rescue crews.
In a Twitter post at 12:20am, the Mexico City Secretariat of Public Security said the Mexico City-Toluca highway had been reopened to traffic.
Source: Milenio (sp), Excelsior (sp)
