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XINHUA

At least 55 people were killed and 104 others injured Thursday, Dec. 9, when a trailer truck packed with more than 150 migrants, mostly from Central America, overturned on a highway near Tuxtla Gutiérrez, the capital of Mexico’s southern state Chiapas, according to that state’s Civil Protection Agency.

According to the agency’s director, Luis Manuel García, the accident occurred due to a mechanical failure, causing the truck to hit a retaining wall on a curve before crashing into a pedestrian bridge.

Most of the migrants, undocumented, were later identified as being from either Guatemala or Honduras, and at least eight children were among the victims.

The migrants were reportedly trying to reach the U.S. border to seek asylum there.