Two Sisters Die After Falling Down Uncovered Sewage Drain

Two sisters died after falling into an open manhole on Thursday night in Mexico City, as they were on their way to a concert at Palacio de los Deportes.

The incident happened near the Velódromo underground station, close to the mayor's office in the Iztacalco borough, in the central-eastern area of Mexico City, according to the first versions of event circulated by the Ministry of Citizen Security (SSC) and reported by local media.

The two women, one of whom was said to a teenager, were walking next to a pedestrian bridge in Río de la Piedad that is linked to the Velódromo underground station. One of them, according to witnesses mentioned by the local media, fell into the open manhole, which was hard to see because the area was poorly lit.

The other apparently tried to rescue her, unsuccessfully. Both drowned inside the manhole, it has been reported.

Local media said officers and rescue services arrived at the scene and cordoned off the area after being alerted of the incident.

"If I had known, I wouldn't have bought their tickets," a woman who identified as the mother of the two girls said, according to journalist Jorge Becerril.

"I need to see them, to know what happened to them. The police won't let me pass at the checkpoint. I just want to see them. Please, they are my daughters."

A video shared by Becerril on Twitter shows emergency services' efforts to rescue the women's bodies.

The pair have not yet been identified by authorities.

Officials from the Ministry of Citizen Security, firefighters, Civil Protection personnel and the Attorney General's Office of the city are involved in carrying out an investigation into the incident.

Mexico City citizens were outraged by the two women's deaths. Many took to social media to denounce the dangerous lack of lighting in the city's streets and to blame mayor Claudia Sheinbaum for the incident.

"F****** drains, they don't have a lid, or they're crooked or there's no lighting to be able to see where you're walking," a Twitter user wrote. "There is a manhole in Chimalpopoca that doesn't have a lid on, people put a board on it because nobody came to cover it."

"The mayor's office and the city must be held responsible for [their] carelessness by not repairing the place where the unfortunate event occurred," another wrote.

"The degradation of Mexico City in its services and roads have brought deaths that could have been prevented," another person wrote on Twitter. "The government has failed to provide safety to the passerby. Not to mention the decline of the underground."

Newsweek has contacted Mexico City Police and the mayor's office for comment.

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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.

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