The number of people found dead on Monday in a truck in Texas is at least 46, according to a new report released at a press conference by the fire chief of San Antonio.
“We have so far taken care of about 46 bodies,” said Charles Hood, who said that sixteen injured people – twelve adults and four children – had been taken care of and were “conscious” during their transport to services. care.
Trucks such as the one found in San Antonio, about 240 km from the border with Mexico, are a means of transport frequently used by migrants wishing to enter the United States.
Such a trip is extremely dangerous, especially since these vehicles are rarely air-conditioned and their occupants quickly run out of water.
“The patients we saw were hot to the touch, they were suffering from heat stroke, heat exhaustion, no water was found in the vehicle,” the fire chief said.
Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard regretted a “tragedy” on Twitter and indicated that the Mexican consul, although we do not “know the nationalities” of the victims, was going there.
Republican Governor of Texas Greg Abbott immediately seized on the tragedy to blame it on Democratic President Joe Biden.
“These deaths are [de la responsabilité de] Biden. They are the result of its deadly policy of open borders,” he said.
The arrivals of illegal migrants increased sharply after the election of Joe Biden, although the latter has been trying since his arrival at the White House to stem the migratory influx by notably entrusting this thorny file to his vice-president Kamala Harris.
In 2017, a similar tragedy had marked the spirits: ten migrants had died in an overheated trailer parked in a parking lot near San Antonio.