America

Charged with homicide and damages to 10 former officials for the collapse of the Mexican metro in 2021

Charged with homicide and damages to 10 former officials for the collapse of the Mexican metro in 2021

First modification:

The Mexico City Prosecutor’s Office charged 10 people for being possible responsible for the accident on metro line 12 on May 3, 2021, which left 26 dead and some 80 injured. They are former officials who are accused of probable crimes of homicide, injuries and damage to property. On Tuesday, July 19, the hearing will be held to determine the possible responsibilities of the accident.

In June 2021, a month after the collapse of a section of the so-called golden line of the Mexican capital’s metro, the Norwegian firm DNV carried out a preliminary expert opinion, the result of which was that “the incident was caused by a structural failure,” he said. In a report read on June 16, 2022, Jesús Esteva, works secretary of the capital’s mayor’s office, who hired the engineering company.

DNV added that the problem was associated with “conditions” such as “deficiencies in the construction process” and welding of the so-called Nelson bolts.

After this preliminary expert opinion, there were several studies to determine the causes of the tragic accident on the night of May 3, 2021, when an elevated section of the subway collapsed and two cars were suspended at a height of about 12 meters. 26 people died and at least 80 were injured.

Now the Mexican authorities are seeking to determine who was responsible for these “structural failures”, which is why on Friday, July 15, 2022, the Mexico City Prosecutor’s Office charged 10 former owners for being possible responsible for the accident on line 12 at work on the construction of the line inaugurated a decade ago. They are charged with probable crimes of manslaughter, bodily injury and property damage.

On Tuesday, July 19, the hearing will be held to determine the possible responsibilities of the accident.

While the investigation progresses to define the responsibility of the accused, other matters related to the case must be addressed, according to deputy Jorge Gaviño, who was director of the Metro in Mexico City between July 2015 and February 2018.

“The most important thing right now is to finish caring for the victims and the relatives of the people who unfortunately died and do justice for all of them. From the point of view of Justice, the State has to give these families the elements of life since many lost a mother, a father, a provider Many children who are barely studying were left without a provider or people who were crippled for life or who were left with a sequel for life, they will have to have the support of the Government in this regard.

Currently, the collapsed section is being rebuilt and the rest of the elevated viaduct is being reinforced so that it can operate again in 2023. Deputy Gaviño indicated that nearly 400,000 people are still affected by the lack of this line because “the transfer time was increased by approximately two hours habitual of the people who live to the east of Mexico City”.

>>>> Read also: Mother of a child who died in the subway accident files first criminal lawsuit

Background

Six months before the accident, local residents had already denounced the poor condition of the structure, since the deterioration and progressive buckling of the structure was visible. After the September 2017 earthquake that shook Mexico City, column 69 that supported one of the sections of line 12 was damaged at the base and three months of work and 15 million pesos were invested, authorities revealed in January. of 2018.

The collapse of line 12 was the second accident that was recorded in the capital metro in the first months of 2021. In January, a fire in the metro control facilities left one person dead and 29 intoxicated.

Meanwhile, in March 2020, two trains collided inside a station, leaving one dead and 41 injured.

The Mexico City metro, opened in 1969, is one of the main means of transportation in the capital and its metropolitan area, where some 20 million people live.

Source link