Why 'La Bestia' Carrying Hundreds of Migrants Derailed in Tabasco Manuel Rueda - ABC News
go to original August 26, 2013

Men work next to a cargo train known as "the Beast," after it derailed near the town of Huimanguillo, southern Mexico, Sunday, Aug. 25, 2013. (Christian Palma/AP)

Railroad robbery could have led to a tragic train derailment that killed five migrants and injured at least 18 in the Mexican state of Tabasco on Sunday.

The incident involved “La Bestia" ("The Beast"), a cargo train that each year is boarded, illegally, by thousands of Central American immigrants headed to the U.S.

Security officials in Tabasco suspect that a series of robberies of railroad track parts, as well as bad weather conditions, could have prompted La Bestia to tip over as it made its way north.

“What happened was that [heavy rains] made the ground less firm,” Tabasco’s Security Secretary told journalists on Sunday. “But the [train] failed, because the track was missing metal plaques. The train had 12 wagons, and eight of them tipped over.”

In recent months, officials in Tabasco have reported the robbery of railroad parts like metal plaques and iron nails that fix tracks to the ground. Thieves apparently have these railroad track pieces melted, and sold as scrap metal.

Another possible reason for this Sunday’s crash is that the train, which carried up to 250 immigrants according to local reports, could have been handling too much cargo.

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