Trailer deaths in San Antonio: 46 immigrants found dead inside a semi-truck, authorities say

Earlier Monday evening, City Councilwoman Adriana Rocha Garcia referred to the victims as immigrants, after the San Antonio police chief briefed her on the situation.

San Antonio Police Chief Bill McManus said at a news conference Monday evening that authorities were alerted to the scene shortly before 6 p.m., when a worker in a nearby building heard a scream for help. McManus said the operator found a trailer with its doors partially open and saw several dead people inside.

16 people — 12 adults and four children — have been taken to nearby medical facilities for further care, according to San Antonio Fire Chief Charles Hood.

Those found alive, Hood said, were hot to the touch, heatstroke and fatigue, and were conscious when taken for care. There was no sign of water in the refrigerated tractor trailer and no working air conditioning unit was visible, he said.

High temperatures in the San Antonio area ranged from the 90s to the low 100s on Monday, to me National Weather Service.

Officials said they hoped those transferred for treatment would recover. Three of the immigrants who were found have been taken to Methodist Metropolitan Hospital and are in stable condition, according to a Methodist Healthcare spokesperson.

McManus said three people are in police custody, but added that it was unclear if they were connected to the situation.

San Antonio police have reported an “alleged human smuggling incident” to the US Department of Homeland Security’s investigative unit and are leading the investigation, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesperson said Monday.

Secretary of Homeland Security “I am heartbroken by the tragic loss of life today and I pray for those who are still fighting for their lives.” Alejandro Mallorcas He said on social media. “So many lives have been lost because individuals – including families, women and children – are making this dangerous journey.”

Hood said the 60 firefighters who were at the site were undergoing a serious accident to debrief the tension.

“We’re not supposed to open a truck and see piles of bodies in it. None of us come to work imagining that,” the fire chief said.

“It’s tragic,” Mayor Nirenberg said Monday. “There are, as we know, 46 people who are no longer with us, who have families, who are likely to try to find a better life. And we have 16 people who are fighting for their lives in the hospital.”

The Consul General of Mexico in San Antonio, said on social media, that assistance will be provided to any and all Mexican citizens. At least two of the 16 survivors have been identified as Guatemalans, according to the Mexican foreign minister citing the consul.

US officials say they are working to better deal with the flow of migrants to the US-Mexico border, with the Biden administration Launching an “unprecedented” operation To disrupt human smuggling networks, Mayorcas told CNN earlier this month.

The operation builds on previous initiatives to go after the smugglers that migrants often rely on as they make their way to the border. Last spring, the Department of Homeland Security also announced an effort to crack down on criminal smuggling organizations, along with federal partners.

Texas has faced similar tragedies with illegal transportation deaths over the past two decades. In 2017, 10 people died and dozens were injured due to heat-related weather conditions after discovering it On a tractor trailer at a San Antonio Walmart. The truck driver was sentenced to life without conditions In a federal prison.

in 2003, 18 victims Investigators said people between the ages of 7 and 91 were found dead in the back of a semi-truck along with about 100 other people as temperatures exceeded 100 degrees. The driver in that case was initially sentenced to life imprisonment, but in 2011 resent to nearly 34 years in prison.

Carolyn Song, Priscilla Alvarez, Michelle Watson, Carol Suarez, Sheriff Paget, Jane Deaton, Amanda Jackson, Steve Almassi contributed to this report.