Mexican train carrying 1,300 migrants headed toward U.S. derails

A cargo train carrying about 1,300 migrants heading toward the U.S. border derailed Wednesday in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca.

Many of the migrants aboard were young people and nobody was injured when the train, nicknamed “the Beast,” came off the tracks, emergency services told Reuters.

At least 57,000 unaccompanied alien children have crossed the border since October, mostly from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, and federal officials expect at least 150,000 more to do so next year.

The Beast, also referred to as “El tren de la muerte,” or “The Death Train,” refers to a network of Mexican freight trains that migrants use as an extremely dangerous method of traveling to the U.S. border.

Several days of heavy rain may have caused the train to derail, authorities told Reuters.