A stage collapsed in northern Mexico on Wednesday as strong winds gusted through a presidential candidate’s campaign rally, leaving at least nine people dead and around 50 others injured.
Images of the accident showed a crowd fleeing as the structure supporting the stage toppled over and a giant screen fell on the stage where presidential candidate Jorge Alvarez Maynez and members of his Citizens’ Movement party were standing.
Nine people died and around 50 people were also injured, Nuevo Leon Governor Samuel Garcia said on social media, while the director of Mexico’s social security institute reported that dozens were being treated at local clinics.
The victims were eight adults and one child, Garcia said, adding that he was headed to a hospital where three people were in surgery.
Maynez, 38, said that he was safe following the accident in the town of San Pedro Garza Garcia, which is part of the greater metropolitan area of the city of Monterrey in Nuevo Leon.