A stage in northern Mexico where a presidential hopeful was campaigning for a local candidate collapsed after a gust of wind blew through on Wednesday night, leaving at least nine people dead and at least 70 others injured, a state governor said.
The stage collapsed in San Pedro Garza García, a suburb of Monterrey in the state of Nuevo León, during an event attended by the progressive candidate Jorge Álvarez Máynez and other members of the Citizens’ Movement party. The collapse was caused by strong wind, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador of Mexico said on social media.
The wind picked up suddenly as candidates were chanting campaign slogans onstage, videos posted to social media showed. As the stage lighting truss slammed to the ground, people rushed off the stage to avoid getting crushed. Others in the crowd ran away screaming, some holding one another in the intense wind.
Samuel García, the governor of Nuevo León, announced the death toll and injuries to reporters early Thursday, saying on social media that one of those killed was a child. Seventy were hospitalized with moderate to severe injuries, he said, and 11 others had been discharged.
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador expressed his support for the victims as well the Citizens’ Movement party during his morning news conference on Thursday. “We send our condolences to the families of those who lost their lives, we are very sorry,” he said.
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