Mexico truck crash: At least 49 migrants killed as trailer overturns

At least 49 people have been killed and dozens more injured after a truck carrying migrants crashed in southern Mexico, authorities say.

More than 100 migrants from Central America were crammed into the trailer when the truck rolled over and hit a bridge in the state of Chiapas.

Pictures from the crash scene show victims strewn across the road next to the overturned truck.

There were also rows of what appeared to be bodies covered in white cloths.

At least 58 people have been taken to hospital with injuries, said Luis Manuel Garcia, head of the Chiapas civil protection agency.

He said the victims included men, women and children. Most of the the people in the trailer were migrants from Honduras, the local fire brigade chief told Reuters news agency.

The truck reportedly overturned on a dangerous bend and hit a pedestrian bridge on a main road leading to the Chiapas state capital Tuxtla Gutiérrez. Chiapas, which neighbours Guatamala, is a major transit point for undocumented migrants.

Hundreds of thousands of migrants fleeing poverty and violence in Central America try to cross through Mexico each year in a bid to reach the US.

Many of them pay smugglers, who illegally transport them in crowded and dangerous trucks on the long journey.

Mexico's President Andrés Manuel López Obrador described the crash as "very painful" and wrote on Twitter that he "deeply regrets the tragedy".

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