9 DEAD IN IMMIGRANT-SMUGGLING BID
At least nine people died after being crammed into a sweltering tractor-trailer found parked outside a Walmart in the midsummer heat in San Antonio, Texas.
The driver was arrested, and nearly 20 others rescued from the rig were hospitalized in dire condition, many with extreme dehydration and heatstroke, officials said.
“We’re looking at a human-trafficking crime,” said San Antonio Police Chief William McManus. He called it “a horrific tragedy.”
Authorities found eight dead inside the truck. A ninth victim died in hospital.
The victims “were very hot to the touch. So these people were in this trailer without any signs of any type of water,” Fire Chief Charles Hood said. Authorities would not say whether the trailer was locked when they arrived.
Based on initial interviews with survivors of the tragedy, more than 100 people may have been packed into the back of the 18-wheeler at one point in its journey, ICE acting director Thomas Homan said. Thirty-nine were inside when rescuers arrived, and the rest were believed to have escaped, officials said.
Some of the survivors told authorities they were from Mexico, and four appeared to be between 10 and 17 years old, Homan said. Investigators gave no details on where the rig began its journey or where it was headed.