Crash leaves five Honduran migrants dead, 18 injured in Mexico 

Five migrants from Honduras died and 18 others, including several children, were injured in a car crash in Mexico, the country’s National Immigration Institute (INM) said on Friday. 

Around 23 migrants were traveling in a panel van on a highway near the city of Cardenas, near Mexico’s southern Gulf coast state of Tabasco when it skidded off a highway and rolled. 

Those fatally injured include four adult women and a two-year-old child. The driver of the vehicle, identified as a Mexican national, also died in the accident. 

At least 18 other migrants were injured, many of which had to be transported to local hospitals. Nearly half of those who were injured were minors. The INM said that the victims of the crash will be given temporary visas to remain in the country due to humanitarian reasons. 

The cause of the accident is still under investigation. Authorities believe it was caused by speeding, according to the Honduran consul to Mexico, Hector Amador. 

The vans the migrants were traveling in are commonly used by smugglers to transport undocumented migrants from the border between Guatemala and Mexico to the U.S. border. 

Many times, the vans are unsafely packed with migrants and do not have the proper security measures in case of an accident. Additionally, the drivers often are reckless if they are trying to evade the police. 

In February, seventeen migrants died and more than 40 were injured in an accident in southern Mexico after the driver lost control of the vehicle, presumably due to brake failures. The bus was carrying dozens of migrants from Haiti, Colombia, and Venezuela, who were seeking to reach the U.S.-Mexico border. 

Similarly, in December 2021, a truck transporting more than 160 undocumented migrants crashed against a bridge in Chiapas, leaving more than 50 dead.