Dylan Bettencourt
Several migrants who were believed to have crossed America’s most southern border from Mexico have been found dead in an abandoned truck.
Reports suggest that at least 46 immigrants were discovered dead inside the truck that was parked near railway lines in San Antonio, Texas.
“At this time we have processed approximately 46 bodies that have been triaged and tagged and declared deceased,” San Antonio’s fire chief Charles Hood told reporters.
Sixteen people – 12 adults and four children – were found alive and were sent to hospital for further examination.
“The patients that we saw were hot to the touch, they were suffering from heat stroke, heat exhaustion, no signs of water in the vehicle. It was a refrigerated tractor-trailer but there was no visible working air-conditioning unit on that rig,” Hood said.
Local police confirmed that three individuals were taken into custody following the discovery.
While the truck was found near the Mexican border, the identity of the deceased migrants are yet to be revealed.
San Antonio police chief William McManus said the authorities were alerted at 5.50pm on Tuesday.
“A worker who works in one of the buildings up here behind me heard a cry for help,” he told reporters.
“[He] came out to investigate, found a trailer with the doors partially open, opened them up to take a look, and found a number of deceased individuals inside.”
Ron Nierenberg, the mayor of San Antonio, said the migrants died crossing the border in the hopes of finding a better life.
“This is nothing short of a horrific human tragedy,” he said.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott, who advocates for strict border control, said American President Joe Biden was to blame for the migrant deaths.
“These deaths are on Biden. They show the deadly consequences of his refusal to enforce the law,” he wrote on Twitter.
In the month of May, a total of 239,000 undocumented migrants were detained crossing into the United States from Mexico.
Image source: @TIME
