'They could've opened the gate.' Mourners seek answers after migrants die in Mexico fire

Record ID: 1717775

  • Title: 'They could've opened the gate.' Mourners seek answers after migrants die in Mexico fire
  • Date: 29th March 2023
  • Summary: PEOPLE PRAYING
  • Embargoed: 12th April 2023 06:27
  • Keywords: El Salvador Guatemala Honduras Venezuela death detention fire migration
  • Location: CIUDAD JUAREZ, MEXICO
  • City: CIUDAD JUAREZ, MEXICO
  • Country: Mexico
  • Topics: Asylum/Immigration/Refugees,South America / Central America,North America,Government/Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA005109329032023RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Migrants and activists held a vigil outside the offices of the Mexican National Migration Institute (INM) in the border city of Ciudad Juarez on Tuesday (March 28) for the at least 38 migrants that died during a fire in a migrant detention centre.
    The fire broke out late on Monday (March 27) apparently caused by a protest over deportations, officials said Tuesday.
    Mourners made a small altar made of candles, flowers, news articles and a Venezuelan flag outside the INM offices.
    Venezuelan migrant Raniel Murillo, who believes a friend of his died during the incident, told Reuters the guards at the centre could've opened the gate holding the migrants to help them escape from the fire.
    "They didn’t feel like it. The guards treat you badly," he added.
    A video shared on social media, which appears to be security footage from within the center, shows a flame in part of a cell which is filling up with smoke as men kick desperately on the bars of a locked door.
    In the 30-second video, three people in what appear to be official uniforms walk past but make no attempt to open the door. By the end of the video the smoke is so thick the cell can no longer be seen.
    Reuters was unable to independently verify the video. Interior Minister Adan Augusto Lopez in an interview broadcast on local media appeared to confirm its veracity saying the government had had the video since shortly after the incident, without commenting in any detail on its content.
    The fire, one of the deadliest migrant tragedies in years, occurred as the United States and Mexico are battling to cope with record levels of border crossings at their shared frontier.
    (Production: Jose Luis Gonzalez, Rodolfo Pena Roja, Nina Lopez)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2023. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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