Mexico City: An official with the National Immigration Institute said Tuesday morning that 39 people have died and 29 were injured in a fire in an immigration detention facility in northern Mexico. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak publicly about the case. The incident took place at an immigration detention centre in northern Mexico near the US border, according to a newspaper report.
Images from the scene showed rows of bodies lying under shimmery silver sheets outside the facility in Ciudad Juarez, across from El Paso, Texas. Ambulances, firefighters and vans from the morgue could also be seen.
The ‘Diario de Juarez’ newspaper, which cited unnamed sources in the Chihuahua state prosecutor’s office, said 39 people died in the fire, which broke out late Monday. They said that the toll may rise as the condition of 10 are very critical. The newspaper also said that the injured are being treated at four hospitals.
Neither Mexico’s National Immigration Institute nor the Chihuahua state prosecutor’s office responded immediately Tuesday to requests for confirmation.
Ciudad Juarez is a major crossing point for migrants entering the United States. Its shelters are full of migrants waiting for opportunities to cross or who have requested asylum in the United States and are waiting out the process.
Mexico’s attorney general’s office has launched an inquiry and has investigators at the scene, according to media reports.
