Anger mounts as death toll from Mexico City metro overpass collapse rises to 24
An elevated Line 12 span gave way beneath a moving train, and residents who had warned about the structure for years said officials ignored them.
The death toll from the collapse of an elevated Mexico City metro overpass rose to 24 on Tuesday as crews worked to free train carriages tangled in steel and concrete wreckage, according to NBC New York. The support beams of the Line 12 span, between the Olivos and Tezonco stations in the Tlahuac borough, gave way late Monday, May 3, 2021, around 10:30 p.m. as a train passed over it.
Of the 24 confirmed dead, 21 died at the scene and three died later at hospitals, per NBC New York's reporting. More than 70 people were injured, with 27 still hospitalized as of Tuesday. Only five of the victims had been identified at that point, and children were among the fatalities.
Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum described the collapse as a "presumed structural failure" and said, "I did not have any report nor alert of any problem that could have led us to this situation," according to NBC New York.
A structure with a known history
A 2017 earthquake had exposed construction defects in the line, including a vertical support column showing cracking and inadequate steel reinforcement dating to the original 2010 construction, per the retrieved reporting. Authorities applied temporary repairs afterward — resin injection, carbon fiber wrapping and welded braces — rather than a full rebuild of the affected section.
What residents said
Resident Julio Yañez described the elevated sections of the line as "time bombs," according to NBC New York's coverage, reflecting a broader sentiment among residents along the route that warnings about the infrastructure's condition had gone unheeded before the collapse.
What the investigation had not yet established
A Norwegian firm was hired to conduct an independent investigation into the cause, but the retrieved coverage does not include its findings. Line 12 was closed following the collapse, and the city deployed hundreds of replacement buses; thousands of commuters lined up before dawn for that alternate transit.
US In News compiled this archived account from contemporaneous coverage by NBC New York. It restores a story originally published on this site in May 2021; figures are as reported at the time.