Slow progress in identification of the dead in metro accident in Mexico

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The identification of the at least 24 dead in the collapse of a section of Line 12 of Mexico City’s subway is progressing this Tuesday slowly after a tragedy that has been haunted by the specter of corruption and poor maintenance of public transportation.

In a press conference, the head of Civil Protection of the capital, Myriam Urzúa, detailed that so far, “only five” of the 24 people who lost their lives in the accident “have been identified”.

The authorities informed that the probability of people being trapped under the rubble is “very low”, and announced that of the 79 people hospitalized last night, 15 are still hospitalized, some of them with serious injuries.

Relatives search for the deceased

The accident occurred on Monday at 10:22 p.m. when a beam of an elevated bridge of Line 12 between Olivos and Tezonco stations, in the south of the capital, collapsed, causing a train with passengers to fall and become stranded in a “V” shape.

The images of the bridge’s collapse, which fell on top of cars traveling on the street, shocked the country in the biggest tragedy in memory in the capital since the earthquake of September 19, 2017.

The capital’s Prosecutor’s Office reported that it is transferring the bodies of the deceased to the territorial offices of the Public Prosecutor’s Office in Iztapalapa, in the east of the city, for identification.

But since last night, relatives of users traveling on the capital’s subway, one of the busiest in the world with almost six million passengers a day, have been coming to the scene.

“I want to know if my son is dead,” a disconsolate Marisol Tapia, mother of Giovanni Hernandez, a 13-year-old boy who was traveling on the train, told Efe in front of the accident site, where half of one of the cars has already been removed.

An international expertise

In the face of popular indignation over the collapse of a line that has been in the spotlight of controversy for years for corruption and poor maintenance, the capital’s chief, Claudia Sheinbaum, promised that it would go “to the ultimate consequences”.

She announced a “very detailed review” of the elevated section of Line 12, which has been suspended, as well as external expertise contracted to the Norwegian company Det Norske Veritas “to get to the bottom of what happened”.

However, Sheinbaum ruled out the dismissal of the Metro director, Florencia Serranía, or other public officials until the result of the investigations is available.

Serranía’s management has been especially questioned since last November 9, when the aging control center of the capital’s subway caught fire, leaving six lines without service for several days and weeks.

In addition, neighbors of the area affected by accident on Monday had been denouncing damage to the bridge pillars since the 2017 earthquake.

“From what I understand, there was no alert of any problem that could lead us to this situation. That is why the expertise is essential and not to make any hypothesis until we have it proven,” Sheinbaum concluded.

Eyes on the Chancellor

The controversial Line 12 was the great work of the current Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Marcelo Ebrard, during his administration as head of government of the then Federal District (2006-2012) to connect the poor areas of the south of the capital.

In October 2012, a few months before the end of his term, Ebrard was smiling as he unveiled the line and tycoon Carlos Slim, who participated in the works, and then-President Felipe Calderón.

However, the so-called golden line, which became the most expensive public work of the moment in Mexico and was criticized for wastefulness, became a headache when it presented several failures forced to suspend part of its service between 2014 and 2015.

Pablo Montes, an anti-corruption coordinator of the Mexican Institute for Competitiveness (IMCO), said on Tuesday that the collapse of the bridge is explained by “technical ineptitude, negligence, and corruption.”

And he added that “from the beginning, it was a problematic project” characterized by a continuous increase in the work costs.

Faced with the accusations, Ebrard moved in 2015 to Paris denouncing political persecution and returned to Mexican politics in 2018 repurchased by the president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, as his chancellor.

In a press conference with the president, Ebrard said Tuesday that he would be at the disposal of the authorities for having promoted the construction of the line and said that “he who acts with integrity should not fear anything.”

Precisely, Ebrard and Sheinbaum are the main names that sound in the pools to succeed López Obrador in 2024.