Repatriate 15 bodies of Guatemalans killed in accident in Mexico

The bodies of 15 Guatemalans who died in a road accident that left more than 50 migrants dead at the beginning of the month in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas were repatriated to Guatemala on Thursday.

"The bodies of the deceased were transferred to Guatemala City in a Casa C-295 plane of the Mexican Air Force and handed over to officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of that country," the government of Mexico said in a statement.

The Mexican military plane arrived at the Guatemalan Air Force base in the south of the capital of the Central American country where the coffins with the bodies were received by relatives, personnel from the Foreign Ministry, local migration and the Mexican embassy, ​​observed a team of said.

The deceased repatriated are 15 adult men, the majority from indigenous areas in the west of the country, according to data from the Guatemalan Foreign Ministry.

With the arrival of the 15 deceased, there are 19 fatalities of Guatemalans returned to the country after the tragedy. On December 18, the first four arrived.

On December 9, a trailer clandestinely transporting some 160 migrants collided with a bridge while travelling along a highway in Chiapas, allegedly speeding.

56 migrants died and more than a hundred were injured. Most of the victims are from Guatemala.

"The forensic authorities have managed to date, and with the support of the governments of the countries of origin of the deceased, the identification of 50 people," the statement from Mexico said.