Texas, USA – June 28 (ONLINE) Dead bodies of 46 migrants were recovered Monday from a tractor trolley in San Antonio, Texas, Reuters News Agency reported Tuesday.
According to reports, incident is in one of the most deadly recent incidents of human smuggling along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Reuters quoted a San Antonio Fire Department official as saying that “stacks of bodies” in a truck were found with no water in it. Adding to this, 16 other people were also recovered from the truck and were moved to a nearby hospital for heat stroke and exhaustion. These included four minors, but no children were among the dead, the department said.
“The patients that we saw were hot to the touch, they were suffering from heat stroke, exhaustion,” Reuters quoted San Antonio Fire Chief Charles Hood as saying in a news conference, adding that “It was a refrigerated tractor-trailer but there was no visible working A/C unit on that rig.”
According to city’s police, a person who works in a nearby building heard a cry for help and came out to investigate. The worker found the trailer doors partially opened and looked inside and found a number of dead bodies, city’s Police Chief William McManus said.
Reuters quoted a spokesperson for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) as saying that its Homeland Security Investigations division was investigating “an alleged human smuggling event” in coordination with local police.
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