Fire at migrant detention facility in Mexico kills 39 men

The blaze occurred late Monday at a facility in Ciudad Juarez, across the border from El Paso, Texas.

Images from the scene showed ambulances, firefighters and vans from the morgue around the smoke-covered facility with rows of bodies lying under shimmery silver sheets.

At least 39 people died in the fire. Twenty-nine injured people were taken to hospitals, said Mexico’s National Immigration Institute in a statement. The facility was holding 68 adult men from Central and South America, it said, Aljazeera reported.

Mexico’s attorney general’s office launched an inquiry and has investigators at the scene, according to media reports.

Ciudad Juarez is a major crossing point for people entering the United States. Its shelters are full of migrants and refugees waiting for opportunities to cross, or who have requested asylum in the US and are waiting out the process.

MP/PR