13 Killed, 98 Injured As Interoceanic Train Derails In Mexico’s Oaxaca State

The Mexican Navy confirmed that the train came off the tracks near the town of Nizanda while carrying around 250 people, including nine crew members and 241 passengers. Of those on board, 193 were reported to be out of danger, while 98 sustained injuries. Thirty-six of the injured were receiving medical treatment.

At least 13 people were killed on Sunday after an Interoceanic Train derailed in Mexico’s southern state of Oaxaca, authorities said. The Mexican Navy confirmed that the train came off the tracks near the town of Nizanda while carrying around 250 people, including nine crew members and 241 passengers. Of those on board, 193 were reported to be out of danger, while 98 sustained injuries. Thirty-six of the injured were receiving medical treatment.

President Claudia Sheinbaum said five of the injured were in critical condition and announced that senior officials had been sent to the site to support affected families. Posting on social media platform X, she said, “The Secretariat of the Navy has informed me that in the Interoceanic Train accident, unfortunately, 13 people died; 98 are injured, five of them seriously. The injured are in IMSS hospitals in Matías Romero and Salina Cruz, as well as in IMSS-Wellbeing hospitals in Juchitán and Ixtepec.”

She added, “I have given instructions for the Secretary of the Navy and the Deputy Secretary of Human Rights of the Secretariat of the Interior to travel to the site and personally attend to the families; also the delegates of IMSS and IMSS-Wellbeing.”

Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office has opened an investigation into the cause of the derailment, Attorney General Ernestina Godoy Ramos confirmed in a social media post.

The Interoceanic Train was inaugurated in 2023 under former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and is a key component of the Interoceanic Corridor project. The initiative aims to modernise rail connectivity across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, linking the Pacific port of Salina Cruz with Coatzacoalcos on the Gulf of Mexico.

The Mexican government has positioned the corridor as a strategic trade route, expanding ports, railways and industrial infrastructure to create an alternative passage for goods that could compete with the Panama Canal. The passenger train service also forms part of broader efforts to boost rail transport and drive economic development in southern Mexico.