Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua — As of Tuesday afternoon, the death toll from a fire inside an INM facility rose to 40. In a press release, the National Institute of Migration (INM) reported on the deaths of 40 migrants who died due to a fire that started inside their office.
Initially the death toll was 39 dead and 29 injured, however, one of the injured died in hospital since those figures were released early Tuesday morning.
The deadly fire started shortly before 10:00 p.m. Monday night in the INM accommodation area in Ciudad Juárez in the state of Chihuahua. The INM facility is located on the Stanton-Lerdo International Bridge which connects Ciudad Juárez with El Paso, Texas. That facility receives detained migrants, mostly from Venezuela.
According to the INM, 68 adults from Central and South America were staying at the immigration headquarters.
Of those, 40 died and were 28 injured. The injured were reportedly transported to four local hospitals in serious condition. Another 15 people, all young women, have been displaced by the fire.
The National Institute of Migration (INM) says they are currently working with the Office of the Attorney General of the Republic (FGR) and the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) to determine what happened.
INM Commissioner Francisco Garduño Yáñez, arrived in Ciudad Juárez Tuesday to visit the burned facilities and those in hospital. The injured migrants who are recovering in hospital had a Visitor Card for Humanitarian Reasons delivered to them, which guarantees their hospital care.
Garduño Yáñez said that the INM will cover the funeral expenses of the, so far, 40 foreign migrants who lost their lives in the fire as well as the care of the 15 women currently displaced.
