Images of the aftermath showed dozens of lifeless bodies on the ground, some covered by silver thermal blankets. Television footage showed emergency workers attending to stunned survivors, who sat on white sheets gasping for breath.
Speaking at his daily press conference, Andrés Manuel López Obrador said the "very regrettable and very sad" disaster had been triggered on Monday night when migrants being held at the detention centre set fire to their mattresses, apparently in protest at their anticipated deportation. "They didn't imagine it would lead to this terrible tragedy," added Mexico's president, who said most of the victims were from Central America and Venezuela.
Millions of Venezuelans have abandoned their economically devastated country in recent years in search of a better life in other South American countries or the US.
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