50 dead in lorry

Migrant tragedy in 38C heat

AT least 50 migrants were found dead in searing heat after crossing into the US from Mexico in a lorry.

They were discovered in and around the abandoned vehicle in San Antonio, Texas, where temperatures topped 38C.

At least 16 others, including children, were found conscious but too weak to leave the trailer, and were taken to hospital suffering dehydration and heat exhaustion.

City fire chief Charles Hood said: “The patients that we saw were hot to the touch. It was a refrigerated tractor-trailer, but there was no visible working air-conditioning unit.”

The bodies were found after a city worker heard a cry for help at around 6pm local time on Monday.

Officers arrived to find one of the bodies on the ground outside the lorry.

Hours after the tragic discovery, Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott blamed the deaths on US

President Joe Biden. He said: “These deaths are on Biden. They are a result of his deadly open border policies.

“They show the deadly consequences of his refusal to enforce the law.”

The border remains sealed off to most migrants under a health order imposed during the pandemic. But the policy, known as Title 42, has had the unintended effect of encouraging people to enter the country illegally.

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said 22 of the dead were from Mexico, seven from Guatemala and two from Honduras. The nationalities of the rest had yet to be confirmed last night.

San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg urged compassion, saying: “This evening we’re facing a horrific human tragedy.”

The number of migrants caught entering the US through the southern border has risen to its highest level in decades, up over 30% from a year earlier.

chris.bucktin@mirror.co.uk

The patients we saw were hot to the touch CHARLES HOOD SAN ANTONIO FIRE CHIEF

SORROW Locals at the scene