Horrific moment huge stage collapses during Mexican political rally, killing at least four people
Mexico’s president confirmed on Wednesday that four people were killed and at least 15 injured when a stage collapsed during a political campaign rally.
The collapse was caused by an incredibly strong gust of wind that caused extensive damage at an event in northern Mexico that included long-shot presidential candidate Jorge Álvarez Máynez, who also went flying.
Current Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said he is “sending a hug to relatives, friends of the victims and political supporters.”
Gruesome videos of the collapse flooded social media on Wednesday evening.
Social media shows how the stage collapsed into the large crowd on Wednesday evening
They showed the terrified audience screaming and trying to run away from the collapsing stage infrastructure.
Other videos showed people trying to climb out from under metal polls that had fallen on the large crowd.
On his social media accounts, Máynez posted that he was taken to a nearby hospital after the accident at the campaign rally.
He said he was doing well, but that there had been “casualties” from the crash.
The meeting took place in the affluent suburb of San Pedro Garza Garcia, outside the city of Monterrey.
“The only thing that is important at this time is the care of the accident victims,” he wrote.
Video footage shows Máynez waving to the crowd as they chant his name before realizing a giant screen is about to fall on him.
He quickly runs to the back of the stage in an attempt to avoid being crushed by the falling structure.
The governor of the northern border state of Nuevo Leon, who is a leading supporter of Máynez’s Citizens Movement party, said in a video address that people had been injured.
San Pedro Garza Garcia Mayor Miguel Treviño confirmed that people were reportedly “trapped and injured.”
“My prayers are with the victims,” he added.
Security forces stand around a stage that collapsed due to a gust of wind during a political rally in northern Mexico on Wednesday evening
A Mexican Red Cross rescuer checks on a girl at the site after a gust of wind caused a structure to collapse during a campaign rally
Civic Movement president Jorge Alvarez Maynez reacts at the site after a gust of wind caused a building to collapse, resulting in several deaths and injuries, during a campaign event for the Civic Movement party in San Pedro Garza Garcia
Events like the one disrupted tonight are being held across the country this week ahead of the expected June 2 presidential election, which will also include state and municipal elections.
Events like the one disrupted tonight are being held across the country this week ahead of the expected June 2 presidential election, which will also include state and municipal elections.
There has been a significant amount of political violence in the run-up to the elections, including the assassination of around twenty candidates for various local offices.
However, the stage collapse is the first accident of its kind to hit the campaign trail.
Álvarez Máynez is behind the two frontrunners in the presidential race in the polls.
The favored candidate for the upcoming elections is Claudia Sheinbaum of the ruling Morerna Part, and behind her is opposition coalition candidate Xóchitl Gálvez.