Train Jumpers - Gary Coronado Photography

Desperate economic conditions are driving record numbers of Central Americans to cross Mexico hoping to get to the U.S. Many ride "The Beast" - the train - risking mutilation and amputation. Some make it, but most are caught and deported. Others return home maimed ... or killed.

Christie Evans--Gregório Méndez, Tabasco, Mexico--Central American migrants jump and ride the train headed northwest from Gregório Méndez, Tabasco, towards the Pakalná train station, in Pakalná, located just outside of Palenq

Central American migrants cling to a moving train near the southern Mexican border.

Christie Evans--Ciudad Hidalgo, Chiapas, Mexico--Central American migrants crossing the Río Suchiate along the Mexico/Guatemala border on a 'balsa or camera,' a raft made from a tractor inner tub and wood planks, from Tecun U

Migrants cross the Río Suchiate along the Mexico/Guatemala border.

Christie Evans--Ciudad Hidalgo, Chiapas, Mexico--Crossing the Río Suchiate along the Mexico/Guatemala border on a 'balsa or camera,' a raft made from a tractor innertube and wood planks, from Tecun Umán, Guatemala to Ciudad H

Eduardo Mendoza, of Guatemala, pulls a raft across the Rio Suchiate along the Mexico and Guatemala border.

Sueños de Oro, Tabasco, Mexico-- Reaching for water handed out by Grupo Beta Central American migrants walk to the town of Tenosique from the Guatemala/Mexico border along highway 203 near the town of Sueños de Oro, Tabasco,

Thirsty Central Americans trekking 35 miles from the Guatemala border to Tenosique are grateful for the life-saving assistance from Grupo Beta.

Juan Carlos Alberto Carazco, 26, second from left, of San Pedro Sula, Honduras, and Danny Coello, 35, far right, of Olancho, Olancho, Honduras, bath from a well before jumping the train at El Ranchito in Tenosique, Mexico

Juan Carlos Carazco, 26, and Danny Coello, 35, both of Honduras, bathe from a well after trekking 35 miles from the Guatemala border to Tenosique, Mexico.

Tenosique, Tabasco, Mexico.
Central American migrants gather along the tracks waiting for a west bound train at Faisan Vía, a colonia, in Tenosique, Tabasco, Mexico.

Central American migrants gather along the tracks waiting for a train in Tenosique, Mexico.

Central American migrants jump a moving train at Colonia Faisan Vía, Tenosique, Tabasco, Mexico. This is a known spot less than a mile outside of Tenosique, within the city limits, where migrants wait for the train to jump ab

Migrants jump a moving train in Tenosique, Mexico.

Tenosique, Tabasco, Mexico--Trying to jump onto a moving train a Central American migrant woman falls along the tracks while she was being helped from a fellow migrant to catch the train headed northwest from Tenosique, Tabas

One misstep can mean disaster for the tens of thousands of Central Americans who jump the trains.

Alicia Maribel Gonzalez (cq all), 14, of Zihuatepec, Honduras, traveling by train for the first time, waits for the train to leave headed northwest from the town of Gregório Méndez, Tabasco, Mexico.

Just 14 years old, Alicia Gonzalez of Honduras takes the train for the first time.

Tenosique, Tabasco, Mexico--A Central American migrant attempts to help a woman jump aboard a moving train at Faisan Vía, a colonia, in Tenosique, Tabasco, Mexico. The woman did not get aboard because the train was moving too

A migrant attempts to help a woman jump aboard a moving train.

Manuel Perez Perez, 32, of San Pedro Sula, Departamento. Cortés, Honduras, is helped by another migrant after having the lower part of left foot crushed by the train's knuckle coupling while it was moving forward and

Trouble came for Manuel Perez, 32, of Honduras, in the first moments of his trip crushing his foot in the train’s couplings.

-Oscar Noe Ortiz Carrasco, left, 20, of Choluteca, Departamento Choluteca, Honduras, shown with Hermenegildo Lopez Cahum, is transported by Grupo Beta from Gregório Méndez to the Hospital in Tenosique, Tabasco, Mexico

Oscar Ortiz is transported by Grupo Beta after he got is foot caught in the train's coupling cutting off his big toe.

Albergue Jesus el Buen Pastor del Pobre y Migrante in Tapachula, Chiapas, Mexico. Doña Olga Sanchez Martinez, 49, of Tapachula, started the shelter over 16-years-ago for Central American migrants mutilated,

Cenia Lovato, broke her ankle jumping off a train, wheels herself into a shelter for injured migrants.

Oscar Noe Ortiz Carrasco, 20, of Choluteca, Dept. Choluteca, Honduras, is treated by nurse Lupita Valdez for a crushed toe while Doctor Manuel Lizcano Sanchez types data into a typewriter at the General Hospital

Oscar Ortiz is treated for a crushed toe at the General Hospital in Tenosique, Mexico.

Emiliano Zapata, Tabasco, Mexico. Raul Ordoñez Martinez, 42, of Colonia Las Mercedes, Comayaguela, Dept. Francisco Morazán Honduras is recovering after having both legs amputated at the Municipal Hospital

Raul Ordonez, a poor shoemaker from Honduras, reached for the ladder of a moving tanker car, slipped and fell onto the rails, losing both legs at age 42.

A pair of jeans left by Central American migrants.

Roberto Antonio Vialobos, 36, of San Vincente, El Salvador, at the Albergue Jesus el Buen Pastor del Pobre y Migrante, Tapachula, Chiapas, Mexico.

Roberto Vialobos, 36, of El Salvador, fell off the train losing an arm and a leg.

Roberto Antonio Vialobos, 36, of San Vincente, El Salvador, takes a DVD movie he bought for his daughter who is in El Salvador to be exchanged for one that works in downtown Tapachula, Chiapas, Mexico. Roberto fell asleep

Roberto Vialobos, 36, of El Salvador, who fell off the train losing an arm and a leg, returns a DVD movie he bought for his daughter in downtown Tapachula, Mexico.

Jose Raul Lainez Zambrano, 39, of Danli, El Paraiso, Honduras, lies dead in the SEMEFO (Servicio Medico Forense) at the old municipal cemetary in Tenosique, Tabasco, Mexico.

José Lainez, 39, of Honduras, lies dead at the old municipal cemetary in Tenosique, Mexico. He was acosted at gunpoint and shot dead by two assailants.

Jose Raul Lainez Zambrano, 39, of Danli, El Paraiso, Honduras is carried by funeral worker Manuel Lopez, far right, and migrants Juan Pablo Alvarez, 42, Jose Arnuldo Alonzo, 24, and Israel Rivas, 25, all of Danli, Honduras

Three migrants carry the casket of fellow traveler, José Lainez, 39, to be shipped to Honduras. They were accosted by bandits in a small town in Tabasco state; the bandits fired shots, striking Lainez in the forehead.