At least 39 people have died and dozens more are injured in a fire that broke out at an immigration centre on the border between US and Mexico.
A building of the National Institute of Migration in Ciudad Juarez, across from El Paso, Texas.
was wrapped in flames leaving dozens of people dead, with more being transported to local hospitals with serious injuries.
Multiple Mexican law enforcement agencies and emergency services rushed to the scene to assist.
Images from the scene showed rows of bodies lying under shimmery silver sheets outside the facility, and multiple ambulances, firefighters and vans from the morgue could also be seen.
Authorities said the fire at the office of the National Migration Institute (INM) occurred after about 71 migrants were picked up from the streets of the city.
The cause of the fire or the victims’ nationalities have not been released by the authorities.
An initial death toll was 37, and two people died upon arrival at the hospital. Authorities said that most people died of suffocation and very few died from burns.
A source told El Heraldo de Juarez: "One of the survivors told us that the area where they were was closed and that when they asked the guard to open the eastern door, he refused to do so."
Members from the Juarez police, the National Guard, the Mexican Army and the Institute of Migration are still in place.
An investigation into the circumstances under which the blaze broke out is ongoing.
Local media reported that a riot inside the detention centre preceded the fire, although this is still unconfirmed.
It is understood that there was a fight between INM personnel and a group of migrants who were upset by an order given to them by immigration agents.
A police source told El Heraldo de Juarez that after the fight, a group of the same migrants set fire to part of the furniture and apparently someone threw a type of solvent on the fire, causing an explosion.
As a result, the building was quickly wrapped in flames and multiple people suffered fatal burns and suffocation.
A hospital in close proximity to the detention centre has been declared in code red as victims of the tragedy arrive.
Ciudad Juarez is a major crossing point for migrants entering the United States.
Its shelters are full of migrants waiting for opportunities to cross or who have requested asylum in the United States and are waiting out the process.
