Guards at the burned migrant center did not have a key

The guards who were at the detention center in northern Mexico where 40 migrants died in a fire, they did not have the keys to the cell, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said Tuesday.

The bodies of 31 of the deceased, mostly Central Americans, they have already been repatriated to their countries of origin, Mexican authorities reported Tuesday.

The fire at the detention center in Ciudad Juárez, a town on the border with Texas, which occurred on the night of March 27, was started in protest by a small group of detained migrants and unleashed the greatest tragedy in memory in facilities of the Mexican migration agency.

In video images From a security camera, some guards can be seen leaving the room while he started a fire on some mattresses inside the cell where dozens of migrants were, without making any attempt to free them.

So far it was not clear who had the keys to the cell or if there was more than one set. but the Mexican president affirmed on Tuesday that the poisoning that caused the death of the migrants took place because “whoever had the key was not there.”

Five people—three immigration officials, a private guard, and the Venezuelan migrant who allegedly started the fire— are under processaccused of homicide and injuries since in the event thirty people were injured.

Connect with the Voice of America! Subscribe to our channel Youtube and activate notifications, or follow us on social networks: Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.