close
Fox News Flash top headlines are here. Check out what’s clicking on Foxnews.com.
Two guards who fled a fire that killed 40 migrants in a locked Mexican detention center did not have keys to the cell door, Mexico’s president said Tuesday.
The comments by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador came on the same day that the bodies of 17 Guatemala migrants killed in the fire were scheduled to be flown back to their home country.
It was unclear what effect López Obrador’s comments might have on the trial of the guards.
“The door was closed, because the person who had the keys wasn’t there,” López Obrador said.
A video from a security camera inside the facility shows guards walking away when the fire started in late March inside the cell holding migrants.
200 FIREFIGHTERS IN MEXICO CITY BATTLE HUGE BLAZE AT WHOLESALE MARKET
The guards are seen hurrying away as smoke fills the facility, and they did not appear to make any effort to release the migrants.
Three Mexican immigration officials, a guard and a Venezuelan migrant are being held for investigation in connection with the fire. They face homicide charges.
The guards who fled the burned Mexican detention center didn’t have the keys to let the migrants out of their cell. (Fox News)
The migrant allegedly set fire to foam mattresses at the detention center to protest what he apparently thought were plans to move or deport the migrants.
Also Tuesday, a Mexican military plane carried the bodies of 17 migrants to Guatemala. Authorities say 19 of the 40 dead were from that country, but the other two bodies are still in the process of having their indentities confirmed.
An additional 11 Guatemalans were injured in the fire.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Guatemalan Foreign Minister Mario Búcaro accompanied the bodies, which after landing were to be taken overland to their hometowns in nine different provinces.
Some bodies of Salvadoran migrants were returned to El Salvador last week.
close Video Anti-Israel protests in Canada File showing anti-Israel demonstrators during a protest in Toronto…
close Video Thousands of Christians reportedly 'deliberately' targeted in Nigeria: 'Human rights catastrophe' Rev. Johnnie…
close Video Border Patrol union praises Trump for resuming border wall construction: 'Amazing' what his…
close Video Survival expert weighs in on factors that may have contributed to college professor's…
close Video LA-area congregation returns for first time to site where wildfires destroyed church Members…
close Video Anti-Trump protesters turn out to rallies in Washington DC, across the country Protesters…