The driver appeared to be running leaving the door ajar, but the survivors were apparently too weak to get out into the fresh air, according to correspondent Ian Woods. Fifty people have been killed after being found in the back of an abandoned truck in San Antonio, Texas. A total of 46 people were found dead at the scene on Monday, officials said. Another 16 people were hospitalized, including four children, while four died later on Tuesday in hospital. It is one of the worst tragedies to kill thousands of people trying to cross the US-Mexico border in decades. President Joe Biden called the deaths “frightening and heartbreaking” and said initial reports were that smugglers or traffickers were to blame. According to Roberto Velasco vlvarez, head of the North America Department of Mexico’s External Relations Department, 22 of the dead were from Mexico, seven from Guatemala and two from Honduras. The countries of origin of the other 19 have not yet been verified, he said. President Biden called the deaths “frightening and heartbreaking.” Credit: AP The dead included 39 men and 11 women, said Police Chief William McManus. San Antonio Mayor Ron Nuremberg said the original 46 who died had “families who were probably trying to find a better life.” “This is nothing short of a horrific human tragedy,” Nirenberg said. In the aftermath of the tragedy, President Biden vowed to crack down on smugglers and traffickers. In a statement, he said: “The exploitation of vulnerable people for profit is shameful, as is the political stance around the tragedy, and my government will continue to do everything possible to prevent smugglers and traffickers from exploiting people who seek to enter the United States between ports of entry “. However, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican candidate for re-election, wrote on Twitter: “These deaths are for Biden. “They are the result of his deadly policies on open borders. They show the deadly consequences of his refusal to enforce the law.” Police are blocking the scene where the trailer containing many corpses was discovered. Credit: AP Aaron Reichlin-Melnik, policy director at the American Immigration Council, wrote that he feared such a tragedy for months. “With borders closed as tightly as they do today for migrants from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, people are being pushed into increasingly dangerous routes. “Truck smuggling is a way out,” he wrote on Twitter. A city worker heard a scream for help from the truck a short drive back just before 6pm local time on Monday and discovered the gruesome scene, said Chief McManus. Hours later, body bags were lying on the ground near the trailer as a grim symbol of the tragedy. How long the truck was and those on it were abandoned on the side of the road was not immediately known. Do you want a quick and specific update on the biggest news? Listen to our latest podcasts to find out what you need to know The patients were hot to the touch and dehydrated and no water was found in the trailer, he said. “They suffered from heatstroke and exhaustion,” Hood said. “It was a tractor-trailer refrigerator, but there was no visible AC unit on this platform.” The weather in the San Antonio area was mostly cloudy on Monday, but temperatures approached 38 C (100 F). Those in the trailer were part of an alleged attempt to smuggle immigrants into the United States, and the investigation was led by U.S. Homeland Security investigations, McManus said. Three people were detained, but it was not clear if they were definitively linked to human trafficking, he added. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported 557 deaths at the southwest border in the 12 months to September 30, more than double the 247 deaths reported last year and the highest since it began monitoring in 1998. heat exposure. In 2017, 10 migrants died after being trapped inside a truck parked at a Walmart in San Antonio. In 2003, 19 migrants were found in a drowned truck southeast of San Antonio. In England, 39 Vietnamese immigrants were found dead in a truck trailer in Essex in 2019. Four men were jailed for negligent homicide.
