54 injured, 9 dead as wind causes the stage at the election rally in Mexico to collapse

The incident occurred during a campaign event for candidate Jorge Álvarez Máynez in the northeastern city of San Pedro Garza García, and he maintained he was not hurt.

At least 54 people have been hurt, according to the governor of the Mexican state of Nuevo Leon, and rescue efforts are still on to free some of the trapped individuals beneath the fallen stage.

Governor Samuel García stated in a post on X that one minor is among the dead and that some of the injured are stable while others are having surgery.

Social media users posted videos of the stage collapsing due to a powerful wind. The structure, which contained a giant television screen, falls onto the stage and part of the audience area, and Álvarez Máynez and his staff can be seen running for shelter.

Strong winds were predicted for the area by Mexico's meteorological office, which warned of gusts as high as 70 km/h (43 mph) starting on Wednesday afternoon.

Strong winds were predicted for the area by Mexico's meteorological office, which warned of gusts as high as 70 km/h (43 mph) starting on Wednesday afternoon.

After the collapse, Álvarez Máynez later declared that he was stopping all campaign efforts but would stay in the state to keep an eye on the victims and circumstances.

"People won't be alone in this tragedy and through the consequences that this tragedy will have in their lives," Álvarez Máynez stated. "We have to have solidarity; nothing can repair an accident, a damage of this kind."

In an interview with reporters, Álvarez Máynez stated that although Civil Defense teams had examined the "structure of the set" before the event, they were taken aback by the wind gusts' intensity.

"The weather was incredibly unusual; the rain didn't continue for even five minutes. It was genuinely unusual what transpired; it wasn't even a storm, he claimed.

The prospective presidential candidate declared that the matter would be looked into.

Governor García warned of more high gusts, thunderstorms, and rain, urging residents to stay inside. On June 2, Mexico will hold its largest-ever election. Political violence and assassinations have escalated in the run-up to the election.

According to data from the research company Data Cívica, as of April 1, at least 28 candidates had been attacked, with 16 of them died. This number is expected to surpass even the most violent election cycles in Mexico's history.