MEXICO CITY — Two subway trains collided between two stations on Saturday in Mexico City, killing at least one person and injuring 41, authorities said.
Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum said on her Twitter account that the accident occurred on Line 3 of the capital’s Metro, without specifying the cause of the collision between the Potrero and La Raza stations.
Sheinbaum said one person died and 16 were taken to hospitals with injuries. But authorities later raised the number of injured to 41. Four people who were trapped on the trains were rescued.
Dozens of police and soldiers invaded nearby metro stations, while ambulances and rescue teams arrived to treat the injured.
Edgar Montiel, an electrician on one of the trains, said he felt lucky because he had decided at the last minute to get into the penultimate car instead of the last car, which was wrecked in the crash.
“It sounded very loud. I only closed my eyes when I felt the sheets of the car bend and throw me,» Montiel told The Associated Press.
He said that he remained on the floor of the car with several passengers in the midst of screaming and shouting for help.
“The power went out to the subway and a lot of smoke began to come out that was suffocating us. We couldn’t breathe well,” she said.
Montiel, who had injuries to his left arm and leg, said the occupants of his car had to wait about 30 minutes for paramedics to arrive to treat the injured and help everyone out of the car.
Lamenting the accident, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said on his Twitter account that the federal government is supporting the city officials who attend to the accident.
In May 2021, an elevated section of the subway system collapsed, causing 26 deaths and injuring nearly 100. An investigation attributed the structural failure to deficiencies in the construction process, and 10 former employees have been charged with manslaughter, battery and property damage.
The Mexico City metro system has 226.5 kilometers (141 miles) of tracks and 195 stations. It serves an average of 4.6 million passengers each day.