Captured on Camera: A Stage Collapse “Tragedy” at a Mexican Campaign Rally Leaves At Least 8 Dead

At least eight people were killed and almost fifty more were wounded after a stage collapsed at a presidential candidate’s campaign event in Mexico on Wednesday due to high winds.

Recorded footage of the incident shows a throng running away as the staging structure collapsed and a massive screen crashed onto the platform occupied by the Citizens’ Movement party and the unlikely presidential candidate Jorge Alvarez Maynez.

Watch this video:

https://x.com/ChuckCallesto/status/1793484759529832922

“I regret to inform you that, as of now, there have been eight adults and one minor killed in the accident. I was just at Clinic 7.” Samuel Garcia, the governor of the northern state of Nuevo Leon, said on social networking site X that the wounded patients at this facility are currently stable. From the site, he spoke to the media, calling the collision “a tragedy.”

After the accident in the municipality of San Pedro Garza Garcia, which is a part of the larger metropolitan region of the city of Monterrey in Nuevo Leon, Maynez, 38, said that he was safe. Maynez said on X, “I am fine and in communication with the authorities” over the incident, stressing that the victims’ needs came first.

He promised to stay at the site until the final victim was transported to the hospital. Maynez, who is now polling third ahead of the June 2 presidential election, said that several members of his team were receiving treatment in the hospital. In polls, he trails both leading opposition presidential candidate Xochitl Galvez and front-runner Claudia Sheinbaum significantly. The departing president, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, expressed his condolences to the victims’ friends and family in a social media message. Strong gusts were the cause of the catastrophe during the campaign event, he said.

Maynez’s campaign said in a statement that he would postpone all of his scheduled appearances “out of compassion for those impacted.” At the gathering, Jose Juan described how the system collapsed on the candidates and their followers. “I passed out when it struck me in the head. The remainder was all terror and frenzy, he said to Televisa. The other two contenders for president also offered their support to the impacted parties. Prior to the fatalities being verified, opposition candidate Galvez said on social media, “I hope with all my heart that there are no serious injuries.” Mexicans will cast their ballots for members of Congress, municipal authorities, state governors, and the next president on June 2.