Three migrants were reportedly killed and another 14 confirmed to be injured when a tractor-trailer overturned in an accident along Federal Highway 15 in Sonora on Monday.
The accident occurred at kilometer 82 of the highway, just south of the municipality of Navojoa, after the trailer crossed the southern border with the state of Sinaloa. Multiple publications reported the deaths of the three migrants, but Sonora authorities had not issued a statement confirming any casualties as of 4 p.m. on Tuesday.
▶️ Tráiler pierde control y se accidenta con más de 130 migrantes irregulares en la caja en Sonorahttps://t.co/B0kAS4CdPf pic.twitter.com/yxYGzp01oM
— Milenio (@Milenio) July 9, 2024
The news site López-Dóriga.com reported that the truck hit “a structure” on the side of the highway, causing the driver to lose control. The tractor-trailer spun off the highway and overturned near the village of Estación Luis, Sonora.
A report by the news site Infobae said that there were at least 130 migrants in the truck’s semi-trailer, which reportedly was carrying the migrants to the United States border. The accident occurred about 670 kilometers south of the U.S. city of Nogales, Arizona.
Videos posted to social media showed that the first people on the scene — travelers on the highway — struggled to open the back of the trailer that had come to rest on its right side alongside the road. One video published by Infobae showed victims being helped through holes in the top of the overturned trailer before authorities arrived.
Initial reports said that the migrants were from Guatemala, though authorities have not confirmed that information. The news website López-Dóriga.com reported that many of the alleged undocumented migrants fled the scene immediately following the accident to avoid being detained by authorities.
Neither the whereabouts of the trailer’s driver nor his condition were known as of Tuesday. Enfoque Noticias reported that the driver had fled the accident scene.
Agents from Sonora’s Civil Protection unit in Navojoa responded to the accident and were joined by officials from Sinaloa as passers-by had quickly notified authorities from both states after encountering the accident.
Paramedics from Navojoa and emergency personnel from Ahome, Sinaloa, attended to the injured. Several of the injured had been trapped inside the damaged trailer. Sonora Civil Protection confirmed that two of the 14 injured migrants were transported to Ahome for treatment while the other 12 were taken to hospitals in Navojoa.
Federal Highway 15 in Sonora is a route favored by those transporting undocumented immigrants to the United States, according to the National Migration Institute (INM). Recent INM operations near the Sonora border towns of Nogales and San Luis Río Colorado have resulted in the detention of hundreds of migrants trying to cross illegally into the United States.
With reports from El Heraldo de México, El Universal, Infobae and Lopez-Doriga.com
