The body of a four-year-old child has been found among the wreckage of a train that derailed on the outskirts of the Mexican border on Tuesday night.
Twelve migrants were riding on the top of what has been dubbed the ‘Devil Train’ heading to Juárez when the 13-carriage vehicle slipped off the track at around 11.00pm while travelling between Ahumada and Samalayuca, state authorities said.
The child is believed to be part of a family from Venezuela who were all injured in the incident.
The mother, with an amputated right foot and hip pain, was transferred to the general hospital, while a seven-year-old boy with an injury on his left cheekbone was treated for minor injuries at the scene along with his father.
The four-year-old had been noted as missing in initial reports but was then found hours later in the wreckage, the El Paso Times reported.
The National Institute of Migration has since taken command over trying to provide aid for the family.
Newsweek has contacted the press office of the Mexican government for further updates and comment on the incident.
Migrants travel on a freight train, arriving in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. The body of a child has been found among the wreckage of a train named the ‘Devil Train’ that derailed on the outskirts of the Mexican border on Tuesday night.
Christian Chavez/AP
It was also reported that a 17-year-old boy was among the injured and sent to the general hospital for treatment, per the state authorities update.
Migrants have been using the train for years to try to get into the U.S., but many are badly injured or unsuccessful in the process.
One incident in 2004 saw a boy get caught underneath the train on the tracks before his leg was mangled, an injury which has now left him with only one leg, El Pais reported.
He had boarded the train with the “dream” of escaping the violence of his home in Honduras.
An incident in 2023 saw hundreds of migrants stranded 300 miles south of the El Paso border after the train was stopped to prevent the families using it, the El Paso Times reported.
The train has also been dubbed ‘The Beast,’ due to the dangers migrants face when trying to use the transport as a route into the U.S.
In Tuesday’s incident, a number of the carriages veered off the track, with some colliding into each other and stacking on top of each other.
Five of the 13 carriages contained sulfuric acid, according to the state authorities report. In one of these carriages a leak was detected in one of the cargo’s tanks, which was controlled using a wooden stake. The damaged tank had a capacity of 53,000 liters.
Another tank carriage that was transporting chlorine gas was damaged in the incident, but no leaks of the chemical were found.
Do you have a story we should be covering? Do you have any questions about this article? Contact LiveNews@newsweek.com.
