Years of unheeded warnings. Then the subway crash Mexico City feared
4 May, 2021 10:54 PM
9 minutes to read
Concerns about the structural integrity of the subway line that collapsed this week had been raised for years. Photo / Alejandro Cegarra, The New York Times
Concerns about the structural integrity of the subway line that collapsed this week had been raised for years. Photo / Alejandro Cegarra, The New York Times
New York Times
By: Maria Abi-Habib, Oscar Lopez, Natalie Kitroeff and Mike Ives
Mexico City s subway system has been plagued with problems for years. On Monday, an overpass collapsed, and a train plunged some 15 metres, killing at least 24 people and setting off a political firestorm.
Years of Unheeded Warnings. Then the Subway Crash Mexico City Had Feared.
Mexico City’s subway system has been plagued with problems for years. On Monday, an overpass collapsed, and a train plunged some 50 feet, killing at least 24 people and setting off a political firestorm.
Concerns about the structural integrity of the subway line that collapsed on Monday had been raised for years, including after a strong earthquake struck Mexico City in 2017.Credit.Alejandro Cegarra for The New York Times
MEXICO CITY The capital had been bracing for the disaster for years.
Ever since it opened nearly a decade ago, the newest Mexico City subway line a heralded expansion of the second largest subway system in the Americas had been plagued with structural weaknesses that led engineers to warn of potential accidents. Yet other than a brief, partial shutdown of the line in 2014, the warnings went unheeded by successive governments.
“We’re going to get to the truth. We’re not going to cover anything up. This is the request we’re making to the prosecutor’s office. There will be accountability,” she said at a tense press conference on Tuesday.
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador called for a swift and open investigation.
“There’s no impunity for anyone,” he told reporters. López Obrador is a former mayor of Mexico’s capital and it has been governed by him and his allies since 2000.
Military guard the site of the disaster. Photograph: Julian Lopez/IPA/REX/Shutterstock
Footage from security cameras showed the overpass collapsing on to a busy street about 10.30pm on Monday night, leaving one of the wagons dangling precariously.