On Monday, Mexican government officials blamed the driver of the modified red truck for losing control and plowing into a crowd of spectators at the “Extreme Aeroshow” in the Mexican state of Chihuahua on Saturday.
Chihuahua Governor Cesar Duarte and event organizers said Francisco Velasquez Samaniego - who was reported to be drinking a couple of sips of beer before the event - hit his head and lost consciousness after crushing a row of parked cars, then continued to accelerate after hitting the crowd.
The 51-year-old driver should only have driven in one direction over the cars, away from the pit area, said the governor.
“He turned and came back in the wrong direction, came back to do a jump, and that's unfortunately where this accident happened,” Duarte added.
Approximately 3,500 people attended the show, in which pick-up trucks with giant tires crush smaller cars.
Meanwhile, prosecutors said they will charge the driver with negligent homicide.
Spokesman for the Chihuahua state prosecutors' office Carlos Gonzalez said that event organizers would be investigated to determine if they had failed to apply the appropriate safety measures at the venue.
“There were no [protective] barriers, and even if there had been, the truck would have crushed them,” Gonzalez added.
The Chihuahua Governor ordered a three-day period of mourning, while calling on citizens to donate blood for the injured.
The tragedy marks the second disaster in less than a month, with critics drawing focus attention on Mexico's patchy and loosely enforced system of consumer safety.
In September, Tropical Storm Manuel and Hurricane Ingrid, which killed 157 people and displaced thousands, drew attention to the government’s failure to enforce architectural standards for the nation’s buildings and infrastructure.
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