Church leaders offer prayers after Mexico City metro crash

Church leaders offer prayers after Mexico City metro crash The site where an overpass for a metro partially collapsed with train cars on it is seen at Olivos station in Mexico City May 4. Photo: CNS

Mexican Church leaders offered prayers for the victims of a metro line collapse that left at least 23 dead and more than 70 people injured.

Bishop Andrés Vargas Peña of Xochimilco – which serves three southern boroughs in Mexico City – offered condolences to the victims, while announcing each priest in the diocese would celebrate Mass three times May 4 “for the deceased, the injured and their families”.

The bishop asked parishioners to pray for the victims and also asked diocesan priests in the affected area and hospitals treating the injured to provide spiritual support.

An elevated portion of a metro line in Mexico City collapsed at around 10:30pm, May 3, sending two train cars crashing onto a busy thoroughfare below and crushing at least one vehicle. Rescuers worked through the night to free trapped passengers and search for victims. Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum said the cause of the tragedy remains unclear.