Train accident in Oaxaca is likely to raise criticisms about public works projects from the previous administration
At least 13 people were killed when a train derailed in the Mexican state of Oaxaca, in an accident which is likely to revive opposition criticisms of the speed and dealings with which the country’s government builds its flagship public works projects.
The incident took place on the Interoceanic Train, which was built to link the Atlantic and Pacific oceans across the narrowest part of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, creating an alternative rail cargo route to the Panama canal intended to drive development in the region.
Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum said on Monday that another 98 of the 250 people on the train were injured, five of them critically, adding that she would travel to Oaxaca later in the day to talk to those affected and “rigorously clarify what caused this accident”.
The Interoceanic Train was one of the flagship infrastructure projects of Sheinbaum’s predecessor and ally, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, commonly known as Amlo, whose term finished last year.
