MEXICO CITY — At ‌least 13 ​people were killed after a Interoceanic train derailed in the southern State of Oaxaca, Mexican authorities ​said on Sunday.

The Mexican Navy said ​the train was ⁠carrying 250 people, including nine crew members and 241 ​passengers. Of ⁠those on board, 193 were reported to be out of danger, ‌while 98 were injured.

President Claudia Sheinbaum said on X ‍that five of the injured were in critical condition.

The derailment occurred in Asunción Ixtaltepec, Oaxaca, on the train’s main line between Veracruz and Salina Cruz.

In a statement, the navy said that 36 people required hospital care and the rest sustained minor injuries. Hundreds of naval personnel and rescue vehicles have been sent to the scene, it said.

An investigation will be opened to determine the cause of the derailment, Mexico’s Attorney General Ernestina Godoy said in a post on X.

Sheinbaum said she has instructed the Secretary of the Navy and Interior Ministry’s Undersecretary for Human Rights “to travel to the site and personally attend to the families.”

Managed by Mexico’s Navy, the Interoceanic Train links Mexico’s Pacific and Gulf coasts. Its main line only came into service in 2023, under a new program by then-Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador to promote economic development in southern Mexico and create an alternative to the Panama Canal for cargo transport. — Agencies