At least 50 people dead after dozens of migrants found inside 18-wheeler in San Antonio
At least 50 people have died after dozens of migrants were found inside an abandoned tractor-trailer Monday in San Antonio, according to local officials.
More than a dozen people, including four children, were taken to area hospitals in varying conditions, authorities said during a press conference Monday.
Four people died at hospitals and the rest of the dead were found in or near the tractor-trailer, the Associated Press reported.
Authorities believe the incident is one of the deadliest tragedies involving smuggling of migrants across the Mexican border into the U.S.
San Antonio Police Chief William McManus said three people are in custody, but their connection to the incident is unclear.
McManus said authorities received a call at about 6 p.m. Monday from a person who heard a cry for help near the 9600 block of Quintana Road.
The caller found the trailer with its doors partially opened. The person then opened the doors and found multiple bodies inside, McManus said.
He said the incident is now a federal investigation that has been turned over to Homeland Security Investigations.
San Antonio Fire Chief Charles Hood said all hospitalized patients were conscious as they were being transported but they were very weak.
“The patients that we saw were hot to the touch,” he said. “They were suffering from heat stroke, heat exhaustion.”
Hood said there were no signs of water in the truck and it was not refrigerated and did not have working air conditioning.
Hood said a mix of men and women were inside the truck. No deaths of children have been reported.
More than 20 emergency vehicles responded to the scene near Lackland Air Force Base on the southwest side at around 6 p.m., according to KENS 5 TV. U.S. Border Patrol officers were seen arriving around 8 p.m.
Officials said they’re unsure where the truck was coming and where it was going.
San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg said all of the people inside were likely migrants.
“Our focus right now is to try to bring aid to them as best we can,” he said. “But this is nothing short of a horrific human tragedy.”
The mayor said those who died had “families who were likely trying to find a better life.”
McManus said the case is the deadliest human smuggling incident he could remember in San Antonio. He said it’s unclear whether all the people who were in the truck have been accounted for.
A law enforcement official told the Texas Tribune that it appears people tried to jump out of the truck because some of the dead were found along several blocks.
The official also told the Tribune that many of the people appeared to have been sprinkled with steak seasoning, possibly because the smugglers were trying to cover up the smell of people.
The investigation is continuing to determine the nationalities of the people and where they were coming from.
Among them, 22 were from Mexico, seven from Guatemala and two from Honduras, Roberto Velasco Álvarez, head of the North America department in Mexico’s Foreign Relations Department, said on Twitter.
“Our condolences,” he tweeted. “All responsible will be brought to justice.”
Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard told Reuters that the Mexican consul in San Antonio was going to the site, according to Reuters.
Alex Selgado, a representative from Honduran immigrant rights organization Fuerza Catracha, told the San Antonio Express-News that “officials did inform us that some of the deceased may be Honduran because they had emblems or insignia of our country” on their clothes.
Monday’s incident is among the deadliest of the tragedies that have claimed thousands of lives in recent decades as people attempt to cross the U.S. border from Mexico, the Associated Press reported. Ten migrants died in 2017 after being trapped inside a truck parked at a Walmart in San Antonio. In 2003, the bodies of 19 migrants were found in a sweltering truck southeast of the city.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters aboard Air Force One that President Joe Biden was “closely monitoring the absolutely horrific and heartbreaking reports” from San Antonio.
Jean-Pierre pushed back against some Republican lawmakers who blamed the administration for the deaths and said it was focused on the victims and holding human smugglers accountable.
“The fact of the matter is, the border is closed, which is in part why you see people trying to make this dangerous journey using smuggling networks,” she said. “Our prayers are with those who tragically lost their lives, their loved ones as well as those still fighting for their lives. We’re also grateful for the swift work of federal, state and local first responders.”
South Texas has long been the busiest area for illegal border crossings. Migrants ride in vehicles through Border Patrol checkpoints to San Antonio, the closest major city, from which point they disperse across the United States.
Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff, the county’s top elected official, said Tuesday that authorities believe the truck came from Laredo, a border city that is more than 150 miles south.
“They had just parked it on the side of the road,” Wolff said. “Apparently had mechanical problems and left it there. The sheriff thinks it came across from Laredo.”
Officials were trying to enlist help from neighboring counties to help with the number of bodies, he said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
This story was originally published June 27, 2022 at 9:10 PM with the headline "At least 50 people dead after dozens of migrants found inside 18-wheeler in San Antonio."
