Photo Credit: Reuters
Nine people have died and a presidential candidate briefly taken to hospital after a stage collapsed under heavy winds at a campaign rally in Mexico on Wednesday.
Candidate Jorge Álvarez Máynez said he was not injured in the incident, which happened during his campaign event in the northeastern city of San Pedro Garza García.
The governor of Mexico’s Nuevo Leon state said at least 54 people were injured and rescue operations were ongoing to save some of the people trapped under the collapsed stage. Among the dead is one minor, Governor Samuel García Sepúlveda said in a post on X, adding that some of the injured are stable while others are undergoing surgery.
Videos shared on social media showed the moment a strong gust caused the stage to collapse. Álvarez Máynez and his team can be seen running for cover as the structure, which included a large video screen, falls onto the stage and part of the audience area.
Nearby observations from Monterrey show there were thunderstorms that brought gusty winds to at least 40 to 50 kilometers (around 25 to 30 miles per hour). The stage location was likely impacted by a gust front, which is when gusty winds suddenly pick up and change direction from nearby thunderstorms.
Álvarez Máynez later said he was suspending all campaign activities after the collapse but would remain in the state to monitor the situation and victims.
The 38-year old congressman is representing the center-left Citizens’ Movement party, and was named party candidate in January after García Sepúlveda dropped out. García Sepúlveda was forced to return to his duties as governor as political chaos erupted under his interim replacement, making his presidential campaign untenable.
Álvarez Máynez has little chance of winning the presidency — the election is seen as a two-horse race between a former Mexico City mayor, Claudia Sheinbaum, a close ally of the Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, and a former senator Xochitl Gálvez who is representing the opposition coalition.
With the two women far ahead in the polls, Mexico is almost certainly going to elect its first female president in June.
Governor García Sepúlveda urged people in the area to stay indoors, warning of more strong winds, thunderstorms and rain.
Mexico heads toward its largest election in history on June 2, which has been marred by spiking political violence and assassinations.
Lewis Musonye
