9 dead, including a child, and 121 injured after stage collapses at rally in Mexico

Nine people died and more than 100 were injured at a political rally in Mexico when a stage collapsed due to strong winds, authorities said.

Nuevo Leon state Governor Samuel Garcia said in a statement on Thursday, May 23, that 121 people were injured in the collapse in the northeastern city of San Pedro Garza García, according to the Associated Press.

The political rally was held by presidential candidate Jorge Álvarez Máynez on Wednesday, May 22, the outlet reported. Máynez, a member of the Citizens’ Movement party, escaped collapse and later told reporters that the victims “will not be alone in this tragedy,” AP reported.

Videos of the incident circulating on social media Wednesday night show people in the crowd screaming and running for cover as metal poles and a large screen fell from the stage.

In a video posted on X (formerly Twitter), Garcia said 94 people injured in the collapse had been discharged from various hospitals and clinics in the area and that 27 people were still hospitalized. He added that three victims had undergone surgery and were in critical condition, AP added. The newspaper also added that local health authorities determined many of the injuries were skull fractures.

The area was surrounded by medical personnel and heavily armed police and soldiers, the newspaper reported. Many of the rally participants who were not injured sat around for hours afterwards, stunned by the events of the night.

Álvarez Máynez said, according to CNN, that civil defense workers checked the “structure of the set” before the event and that the storm was a surprise.

“The weather conditions were very atypical: the rain didn’t even last five minutes… it wasn’t even a storm, it was really atypical what happened,” he said.

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador also commented on the incident, noting that most of the injured were women, CNN reported.

Obrador also said that the Citizens Movement party, considered an ally of his Morena party, should not be accused before an investigation is launched.

“We know they are not to blame,” the president said Thursday, according to CNN.

Many political analysts believe that Álvarez Máynez has a very slim chance of winning the presidential election, the media added. Former Mexico City mayor Claudia Sheinbaum and former senator Xochitl Gálvez are the two leading candidates, so it is likely that Mexico will have its first female president in June.

Álvarez Máynez has canceled several of his upcoming campaign events, AP added.

“We must show solidarity. There is nothing that can repair an accident or damage of this kind. People will not be alone with this tragedy and the consequences that this tragedy will have on their lives,” Álvarez Máynez told CNN, adding that he would stay in the state to visit the victims and their families.

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