Organizers, Then Driver Blamed for Fatal Monster Truck Crash Ricardo Chavez and Michael Weissenstein - Associated Press
go to original October 8, 2013

 
People run as an out-of-control monster truck plows through a crowd of spectators at a Mexican air show in the city of Chihuahua, Mexico, Saturday, killing eight and injuring at least 79 others. (El Diario De Chihuahua/The Associated Press)

Associated Press Update: Mexican prosecutors have filed manslaughter charges against the driver of a monster truck that careened into a crowd of spectators, as death toll rises to nine. Chihuahua state prosecutors say Francisco Velazquez Samaniego didn't meet age and health requirements to drive the monster truck in the exhibition.

Mexican government officials and event organizers on Monday blamed the driver of a monster truck for losing control and plowing into a crowd of spectators, killing eight and injuring dozens. Motor-sports experts pointed to the organizers, saying the setup of the state-sponsored show was blatantly deficient and life-threatening.

Organizers of the "Extreme Aeroshow" said that hundreds of families had gathered without permission in what was supposed to be the pit area of the makeshift arena in a park in the capital of the border state of Chihuahua. One organizer said the spectators weren't moved because "crowd management is very difficult."

The pit area was unprotected by any barrier and sat feet from where the monster truck known as "Big Show" was crushing a pair of old cars, leaping into the air and rolling over their hoods and roofs. Video of the accident shows the truck coming down hard off the second car, bouncing, then speeding out of control into the crowd.

It was the second disaster in less than a month to focus attention on Mexico's patchy and loosely enforced system of consumer safety. Experts widely blamed much of the billions of dollars' worth of damage from Tropical Storm Manuel and Hurricane Ingrid, which killed 157 people and displaced thousands, on the government's failure to prevent home construction in floodplains and enforce building standards for highways and bridges.

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