Just over five minutes on foot separate the two main places where pain and indignation were mixed in equal parts this Tuesday after the tragedy that occurred last night in the Mexico City subway.
At least 24 people died and dozens were injured after the collapse of a section of elevated track of the line 12 between the Olivos and Tezonco stations, in the southeast of the capital.
Throughout this Tuesday, hundreds of residents gathered in the area still incredulous. Some spoke about what happened, others were shocked and others were silent with their phones, recording images of the spectacular cranes trying to remove one of the wrecked wagons.
“This could be seen coming, because It was a very horrible creaking noise that you heard here when the subway was circulating ”, told BBC Mundo Adelfo Solano, a retired resident of the area of 77 years.
His claim is the most common among those who saw the dramatic image of the incident on Tuesday, given that the so-called “golden line” presented innumerable failures and deficiencies in its operation since its inauguration less than ten years ago.
Although the director of the metro, Florencia Serranía, assured that the last revision of January of 2020 did not show any anomalies in this section, Thousands of Mexicans accuse the authorities of possible negligence in the to construction and demand responsibilities from the government, which has already announced an investigation with the collaboration of international independent experts.
“The people of Mexico have to know the whole truth, nothing will be hidden from them” , promised this Tuesday President Andrés Manuel López Obrador along with Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard, who was head of government of the capital when this metro line was inaugurated in 1200 and that has become the center of criticism .
A few hours later, the capital prosecutor’s office announced an investigation folder “for the crimes of homicide and property damage, both guilty ”, in which the work contracts will be investigated and the construction company, and in which engineers and geologists will carry out studies to identify the cause of the accident.
But most of the relatives of the victims who this Tuesday were waiting for news in a hospital very close to the place of the accident, they responded that for them the investigation and the apologies for what happened are unfortunately late.
The painful wait at the hospital
When she spoke with BBC Mundo, Yuliana Torres had just been told that her husband Juan Luis Díaz, from 38 years, had passed away.
“They say they took him out of the subway alive, but before entering here he went into cardiac arrest and entered dead. We are waiting for the funeral procedures ”, he counted with profound integrity at the entrance of the Belisario Domínguez hospital, the medical center where there are more victims admitted next to the Tláhuac hospital.
In this place you could see people with watery eyes and tired faces after spending all night awake, but also those who drew strength from weakness to encourage each other.
The relatives of Jazmín Zulema Sixto , from 27 years, they trusted to receive good news in the next few hours, despite the fact that he is in serious condition.
“She is precisely a nurse in this hospital. Yesterday his shift ended at 10: 00 at night and took the subway, but nothing else advanced a station when it all happened and they brought her back “, His aunt, Nadeyra Sixto, told BBC Mundo.
The doctor explained that” if there is still no bleeding, it means that he is on the right track. ” Together with her, her boyfriend is admitted, also in intensive care.
Missing
But more than 12 hours after the tragedy, others were not even sure where their relatives were and They were still looking for them.
This is the case of Kevin Mendoza, from 24 years, who came to this hospital after visiting four other medical centers looking for his father Alejandro. His last communication with him was through messages minutes before the subway accident, where he thinks he was going.
“Right now I’m going to ask in this one, in the Belisario, and then I go to the 20 of November. I hope that he is alive and that they have not registered yet ”, he told BBC Mundo.
In his case, the painful The label of “Unknown” that is seen next to some of the names on the official lists of victims was, at the same time, his best hope of being reunited with his father.
Unfortunately, Alejandro’s name Mendoza appeared hours later on the official list of deceased.
Only minutes after losing her husband, Yuliana Torres did not hesitate to firmly denounce the poor condition of this metro line.
“We had no choice but to use this line for economy, to save time … but of course it could have been avoided, it had already taken time for this to happen.”
And despite the i An investigation announced by the government, acknowledged not having any confidence in clarifying what happened.
“The architects and those who designed the line will wash their hands. The government will say it was an accident and no one will take responsibility. Unfortunately this is how it is here: they throw the ball to each other and a culprit will never be found ”, she criticized accompanied by her only son.
“I was saved for five minutes”
Meanwhile, at the scene of the accident, neighbors and passers-by continued the work of crane rescue of one of the two wagons that literally still seemed to hang on the air between the bridge that collapsed and the lower road full of vehicles at the time of the accident.
Among the conversations, the testimonies of those who managed to narrowly avoid the tragedy were heard.
“I was going to take the subway but a bus just came (a small bus) and I got on to go to Peripheral. I was saved for five minutes, it was my salvation. If not, today I could be in the pantheon “, said Adelfo Solano.
He had the same luck Ismael López’s aunt, a merchant from the area of 23 years. She had just finished her trip and, when she was going down the stairs of the Tezonco station, she heard “a crash” right in the subway that was running just after the one she had taken.
“She came home very scared, but she arrived”, her nephew told BBC Mundo.
Solano remembers that, at the time of the accident, “they heard each other Terrible creaks, it was very fast but tremendous. And after a while all the ambulances arrived. ”
Many of the neighbors insisted on demanding the responsibility of Marcelo Ebrard in what happened.
“This it was one of their crap. But it does not matter if it is his fault, because they are going to cover up, “Solano considered.
The merchant Ismael López had a similar opinion. “Unfortunately, as Ebrard was going to end his time as head of government (in 2012), thus delivered the meter when it was not even finished and then it had to be closed to fix it ”, he said.
López refers to the 2014, barely a year and a half after the line’s inauguration, when they had to be temporarily closed 11 from 18 stations to correct multiple manufacturing faults.
This Tuesday, Foreign Minister Ebrard assured that he shared the public’s outrage and celebrated that an investigation is being carried out to clarify what happened, identify those responsible and “act accordingly.” disposition of the corresponding authorities, as I have always done, ”he stated, expressing his solidarity with all the victims.
“Squeaks and roars”
Many neighbors agree that “squeaks and roars” were heard when traveling on this line 12. They assure that the structure that collapsed this Monday looked “bent, as if it were sinking , with a curvature ” and that they had already reported their bad condition.
This was even more affected after the earthquake of 2017, but authorities said they carried out repair work after the earthquake.
López said that this section has such long curves that they made the metal of the rail collide with the tires to make so much noise. “I have relatives who live in 20 minutes from here and they say that from there they hear the creaking of the road, which looked crooked, ”he said.
He said that although many people published notices on social networks warning that traveling on this section was not safe, the need of the neighbors left them no choice.
“In the trucks (buses) there are robberies and robberies … so the need for people here is to go by subway. ”
This Tuesday, while it continued trying to recover one of the wrecked wagons, life continued in this area of humble and hardworking people, full of small shops and mobile food stalls and Between the mayors of Tláhuac and Iztapalapa. 
Cristina Pérez, a retired resident of the area, exclaimed altered that what happened with the subway was “a national shame”.
“They were human, valuable people. Even if they were sellers of chili, is that why they are not worth it? Where the subway went, they are pure humble people. Maybe that’s why they were nobody for the government, but for us they were our neighbors and Mexican brothers, ” he told BBC Mundo, trying to hold back the crying.
“You can’t say ‘I’m sorry’ and nothing else. The facts are in the home of each one who lost his life. We are all outraged and we want someone to tell us what happened here ”.
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