The President of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, regretted "deeply the tragedy caused by the overturning of a trailer in Chiapas that was transporting Central American migrants". | Photo: Twiiter @FGRMexico

Mexico City, December 11 (RHC)-- Mexico's Attorney General's Office (FGE) is conducting the first investigations related to the accident that took place this Thursday in the municipality of Chiapa de Corzo, and which so far has resulted in the death of 55 Central American migrants.

The migrants died when the tractor-trailer in which they were traveling suffered an accident.  According to the Secretary of Civil Protection of Chiapas, Luis Manuel García Moreno, most of the passengers came "mainly from Guatemala and El Salvador."  There were also Hondurans and Nicaraguans crammed into the back of the truck.

The accident took place shortly before 15:30 local time (21:30 UTC) on the Pan-American highway, on a stretch between Chiapa de Corzo and Tuxtla Gutierrez, the capital of Chiapas.  According to authorities, the vehicle was coming from the municipality of Comitan, on the border with Guatemala.

The injured persons were taken to various hospitals in the city of Tuxtla Gutiérrez, while the deceased were transferred to the Forensic Medical Service of the State Prosecutor's Office, with the support of the Federal Ministerial Police and the National Guard.

"As it is an unfortunate case of migrants that occurred on a Federal highway, the Specialized Prosecutor's Office for Human Rights (Femdh), will act together with the Specialized Prosecutor's Office for Regional Control (Fecor), as well as with all the technical and support personnel that may be necessary, to carry out the corresponding proceedings," explained the Attorney General's Office in a statement.

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said he "deeply regrets the tragedy caused by the overturning of a tractor-trailer in Chiapas that was transporting Central American migrants.  It is very painful.  I embrace the families of the victims."

For his part, the president of Guatemala, Alejandro Giammattei, wrote on Twitter: "I deeply regret the tragedy in the state of Chiapas and I am in solidarity with the families of the victims to whom we offer all necessary consular assistance including repatriations.

The route followed by the crashed truck is one of the usual routes for migrants in transit from Central America to Mexico or the United States.