at least 39 migrants died in the fire of a detention center

At least 39 migrants died and 29 others were injured early Tuesday morning March 28 in the fire at their detention center in Ciudad Juarez, a Mexican city bordering the United States, a tragedy caused according to the Mexican government by migrants who feared deportation.

“They put mattresses at the door of the reception center and set them on fire, without imagining that this would cause this terrible misfortune”lamented Mexican President Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador during his daily press conference.“It is a protest movement that they started, we assume that they learned that they were going to be deported, displaced”he pointed out.

The wounded distributed in four hospitals

Although the identities and nationalities of the victims have not yet been communicated, he indicated that the center accommodates “mainly migrants from Central America and some from Venezuela”.

The Institute “deplores the death of 39 migrants so far as a result of a fire”, he said in a statement, adding that the 29 injured had been taken in serious condition to four hospitals. He said he had made contact “with the consular authorities of the different countries to implement the actions authorized by the complete identification of the deceased migrant persons”.

The fire, unprecedented in facilities for migrants in the country, began shortly before midnight Monday, prompting the mobilization in the early morning Tuesday of firefighters and dozens of ambulances. It started in the area where undocumented foreigners are housed.