Fire during protest at migrant center kills 38 in Mexico, officials say

Viangly, a Venezuelan migrant, reacts outside an ambulance for her injured husband Eduard Caraballo while Mexican authorities and firefighters remove injured migrants, mostly Venezuelans, from inside the National Migration Institute (INM) building during a fire, in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico March 27, 2023. REUTERS/Jose Luis Gonzalez

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico (Reuters) -At least 38 migrants from Central and South America died after a fire broke out late on Monday at a migrant detention center in the Mexican northern border city of Ciudad Juarez, apparently caused by a protest over deportations, officials said Tuesday.

Mexico's National Migration Institute lowered the death toll on Tuesday evening to 38 from 40, saying a visit to the city's hospitals where victims were being treated had confirmed the lower number.