At least 40 were killed on Monday after a blaze broke out at a government-run migrant detention centre in Ciudad Juarez, a city in northern Mexico. The fire was reportedly started by migrants protesting against their deportation near the US border.
"They put mats at the door of the shelter and set them on fire as a protest, and did not imagine that it would cause this terrible tragedy," Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador told AFP.
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi expressed solidarity with relatives of the victims and appealed to countries in the region "to deal in a humane, just, effective manner with growing population flows through the Americas." The fire broke out after 10 pm. About 68 men from Central and South America were being held at the facility.
According to Guatemala’s Institute of Migration, 28 Guatemalans were among the dead.
“What we know so far is that migrants from Central America and some from Venezuela were in that shelter. We still do not know exactly the names and nationalities of those who unfortunately lost their lives,” López Obrador said.
