39 dead in fire at Mexico migrant detention centre

MEXICO CITY (AP) — A fire inside a Mexican immigration facility at the United States border that left 39 migrants dead was started by migrants who set mattresses alight in protest after learning they would be deported, Mexico's president said Tuesday.

Andrés Manuel López Obrador called the incident unfortunate and said the director of country's immigration agency was on the scene.

“They never imagined that this would cause this terrible misfortune,” López Obrador said.

Hours after the fire broke out late Monday, rows of bodies were laid out under shimmery silver sheets outside the facility in Ciudad Juarez, which is across from El Paso, Texas, and a major crossing point for migrants.

Ambulances, firefighters and vans from the morgue swarmed the scene.

Thirty-nine people died and 29 were injured and are in “delicate-serious” condition, according to the National Immigration Institute.

There were 68 men from Central and South America held in the facility at the time of the fire, the agency said.

It was the deadliest incident inside a Mexican immigration facility in recent memory.

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