Night watchman Emilio Campos died on Monday night as he tried to save the horses, trapped in their stables by mud and floodwaters through the La Barranca horse club, in Naucalpan on the outskirts of Mexico City.

Neighbouring homes were also flooded. Floodwaters were up to a metre deep, and in Ecatepec, in Mexico state, a 12-year-old schoolboy was killed after being dragged about 400 metres through muddied floodwaters.

The flood waters had receded by yesterday, and workmen using a bulldozer took the bodies of the dead horses away, according to an AP report.