It was the final time she would speak with her boy.
As the train approached the Olivos station, two stops east of Periférico, three metal girders supporting the elevated line gave way, authorities said, plunging the last two cars of the train toward busy Tláhuac Avenue some 15 feet below. The two subway cars separated from the rest of the train and dangled in a horrific, V-shaped tableau as metal and concrete debris from the super-structure plummeted to the bustling boulevard.
At least 26 people train passengers and at least one motorist who was crushed on the avenue below were killed and dozens more injured, many of them working-class residents returning home after night jobs. It was the deadliest incident in decades on the Mexico City Metro, which opened in 1969 and now carries more than 4 million passengers daily, second in the Americas only to New York’s subway.
The deadly crash off Point Loma shows how decades of heightened border enforcement and recent pandemic policies drive people to riskier crossings.
The infamously crowded and deteriorating Metro is a vital lifeline here, connecting commuters in a sprawling metropolis that is home to more than 20 million, among the world’s most densely populated.
Brandon Giovanni Hernández Tapia was the youngest of the fatalities. The 12-year-old loved soccer, dreamed of traveling around the world and hoped to become a doctor so he could buy his mother a house to escape the grinding poverty of Colonia Zapotitla. His sobbing grandmother said at the boy’s wake that he liked dancing with her.
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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.