The death toll from the Morelos accident in which a semi’s brakes failed earlier this week rose to nine Thursday with the death of a 47-year-old man.

The semi collided with more than a dozen vehicles on the Mexico City-Cuautla highway on Wednesday morning after losing its brakes, initially killing six people and injuring 21. Three more people have died since.

One of the critically injured was a 30-year-old pregnant woman who was airlifted by helicopter from the scene of the accident to the Cuernavaca General Hospital, where she was placed in a medically induced coma. She remains in serious condition.

At least two of the people injured have been released from hospitals in Cuautla and Ocuituco.

A few hours after the accident, the state government announced that it planned to expropriate land to build an emergency escape ramp near the accident scene.

Yesterday, the federal Secretariat of Communications and Transportation (SCT) said its budget has the funds to build the ramp.

It conducted a topographic survey of the area last month and construction will start once the state has expropriated the land, it said.

Source: El Universal (sp)