At least 40 dead in Mexico migrant centre fire as rights groups blame overcrowding

Mexico's president says fire was caused by migrants lighting mattresses in protest at planned deportations

Rights groups have blamed poor conditions and overcrowding for a fire that killed at least 40 migrants from Central and South America at a migrant detention centre in Ciudad Juarez, a Mexican city on the US border.

The fire, which broke out late on Monday, was caused by migrants setting fire to mattresses in protest after discovering they would be deported, Mexico's president said. They didn't think that would cause this terrible tragedy," Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador told a news conference. He did not provide more details about how so many died.