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46 dead, 16 hospitalised after trailer of migrants found in Texas’ San Antonio

kem haris 2 years ago 2 min read

Forty-six people were found dead and 16 others were taken to the hospital after the rig tractor-trailer containing alleged migrants was found Monday on a remote back road in San Antonio Southwest, officials said.

A city worker at the scene was warned about the situation with a scream for assistance just before 6 pm Monday, said Police Chief William Mcmanus. Officers arrived to find a corpse on the ground outside the trailer and the gate was partially open to the trailer, he said.

Of the 16 who were brought to the hospital with heat -related diseases, 12 adults and four children, said the Fire Chief Charles Hood. The patients are hot when touched and dehydrated, and no water is found in the trailer, he said.

Three people were taken into custody, but it was unclear if they were absolutely connected with human trafficking, McManus said.

Those in the trailer were part of a presumed migrant smuggling attempt into the United States, and the investigation was being led by US Homeland Security Investigations, McManus said.

Those in the trailer are in an effort to smuggle migrants allegedly in South Texas, according to an official who spoke to the Associated Press on anonymous condition because the information was not permitted for public liberation.

This may be the deadliest tragedy among thousands of those who have died trying to cross the US border from Mexico in the last few decades. Ten migrants were killed in 2017 after being trapped in a truck parked in Walmart in San Antonio. In 2003, 19 migrants were found in a truck in southeast of San Antonio.

A large rig emerged as a popular smuggling method in the early 1990s in the middle of the surge in US border enforcement in San Diego and El Paso, Texas, which later became the busiest corridor for illegal crossing.

Before that, people paid a small fee to the Mother-and Pop operator to bring them across the border which was mostly not maintained. When crossing became more difficult exponentially after the 2001 terror attacks in the US, migrants were led through a more dangerous terrain and paid thousands of dollars more.

Heat causes a serious danger, especially when the temperature can rise very large in the vehicle. The weather in the San Antonio area is mostly cloudy Monday, but the temperature is close to 100 degrees.