At least 13 people were killed and dozens more injured after a train derailed in southern Mexico, authorities said, disrupting service along the rail line linking the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico.

The Interoceanic Train, which connects Oaxaca and Veracruz, went off the tracks on Sunday while rounding a curve near the town of Nizanda.

“The Mexican Navy has informed me that, tragically, 13 people died in the Interoceanic Train accident,” President Claudia Sheinbaum wrote on X, adding that 98 passengers were injured, five of them seriously. She said she had directed the navy secretary and the undersecretary of human rights at the Interior Ministry to travel to the site to assist the victims’ families.

Oaxaca Governor Salomon Jara also confirmed that multiple government agencies were on the scene to support the injured. Officials said 241 passengers and nine crew members were aboard the train when it derailed.

The Interoceanic Train was inaugurated in 2023 by then-President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador as part of efforts to expand rail travel in southern Mexico and develop infrastructure across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, a narrow land corridor between the Pacific and the Gulf of Mexico.

The Mexican government aims to transform the isthmus into a strategic trade corridor, linking Atlantic and Pacific ports via rail and other transport networks. The current service runs roughly 180 miles (290 kilometers) from Salina Cruz on the Pacific coast to Coatzacoalcos on the Gulf.

Source: AP