Ten Cuban migrants died, and 17 more were injured when an overloaded truck overturned in Chiapas.

The accident happened on the Pijijiapan-Tonalá highway, frequently used by migrants travelling north from the Guatemalan border towards the United States. The dead were all women, one of them a minor.

According to a statement by Mexico’s National Migration Institute (INM), “the driver was speeding, lost control of the unit and overturned.” The driver then fled.

Photos of the accident scene show that the truck was a wooden-backed Ford model not designed to carry people and was also missing license plates. The vehicle was almost destroyed on impact.

Of the 27 Cuban migrants travelling in the truck, 17 survived but were seriously injured. They were transferred to hospitals in Pijijiapan and Huixtla for treatment, and Cuban authorities are being informed of their condition.

The newspaper El Universal reported that the migrants had spent several days in Tapachula trying to obtain Mexican humanitarian visas before boarding the truck north. Authorities have not identified the human smugglers who facilitated the journey.

The second fatal accident in three days involved migrants being transported through Chiapas in overloaded trucks. On Thursday, two people died when a dump truck carrying 52 migrants of various nationalities also lost control and overturned in the municipality of Mezcalapa.

In December 2021, 55 migrants were killed and more than 100 injured in similar circumstances when a tractor-trailer overturned in Chiapas. Investigations into the accident uncovered a network of human smugglers who allegedly charged migrants 60,000 pesos (US $2,860) each to transport them to the U.S. border.