Terrifying moment truck goes off-road and plows spectators at illegal race in Mexico - killing three and injuring 12

This is the terrifying moment a semi-truck plowed into spectators at an illegal street race in Mexico and killed three people, including a minor, and left 12 others injured.

Footage showed hundreds of people lined up on both sides of Lázaro Cardenas Street when the driver of one of the two trucks lost control just seconds following the start of the clandestine race in Epazoyucan, Hidalgo on Sunday.

A woman could be seen hugging a child as they sat on the ground as the trucks to charge down the street while a man walked nearby by selling balloons. 

Others stood to the side peeking over the side of the road trying to get a glance of the speeding semi-trucks.

Three people, including a 12-year-old boy, were killed after a truck (left) plowed into a group of spectators at an illegal drag race in Epazoyucan, a city in the central-eastern Mexican state of Hidalgo on Sunday

Hundreds of residents attended an illegal drag race between two trucks that left three people dead, including a 12-year-old boy, and 12 injured in the central-eastern Mexican municipality of Epazoyucan on Sunday

As the trucks sped down the avenue, the vehicle on the left landed swayed violently and jumped off course.

A bystander captured the truck barreling into several men while a male spectator somehow narrowly avoided being hit and remained standing near the side of a building. 

It is unknown if the person who filmed the footage was hurt. 

The victims were identified as a 12-year-old boy and two adults aged 22 and 42. Their names have not been released.

The driver of the semi-truck fled the scene of the accident and remained on the run as of Monday afternoon.

The administration of Mayor Luis Montiel said in a statement that the race was part of the annual patronal festival but was not cleared to take place.

Emergency workers tend to a person who was hit by a truck an clandestine drag race in Epazoyucan, Mexico on Sunday

A woman was seen hugging a child while spectators waiting for the semi-trucks to speed by before most of them where hit by one of the vehicles

The driver of the blue semi-truck fled the scene after plowing into 15 people, including three who were killed, at an illegal drag race in the central-eastern Mexican town of Epazoyucan

'The necessary permission to hold the event was not granted,' the city said. 'In this sense, we express our pain at the human losses and recognize that this is a focus of alarm that should motivate participation and raise awareness among citizens, as well as the authorities to prevent events like this from being repeated.'

Actor Alberto Arroyo and two friends walked out unscathed following a drag race crash in December 2023 in Ecuador.

The 30-year-old wrecked his $95,000 BMW when he and the driver of a $200,000 Mercedes Benz collided.

Arroyo revealed that an Audi was backing out of its parking spot when the Mercedes Benz clipped it from behind before he plowed into it.

In September, authorities in the western Mexico state of Sinaloa arrested 15 people who were caught participated in clandestine drag races on a section of a road that had just been built.