At least 46 people, believed to be migrants, were found dead Monday in an abandoned tractor-trailer in the suburbs of San Antonio, Texas. It could be the deadliest tragedy among migrants attempting to cross the US southern border in decades.
Updated yesterday at 10:38 p.m.
Sixteen other people were still alive and were taken to local hospitals. Four would be children, said San Antonio Fire Chief Charles Hood. “The patients we saw were hot to the touch, they were suffering from heatstroke, heat exhaustion, we did not find any trace of water in the vehicle”, he detailed.
The fire chief said he was hopeful the victims taken to hospital would survive. Several cities in Texas hit record high heat in June. On Monday, the temperature had exceeded 37℃ in San Antonio.
Police Chief William McManus said a city worker at the scene was alerted to a call for help shortly before 6 p.m. Monday. When they arrived on the scene, the police reportedly found a body on the ground outside the trailer. Three people were arrested during the evening.
The tragedy occurred in the suburbs of San Antonio, a large city 240 km from the border with Mexico. Footage circulating on social media showed numerous police and rescue vehicles at the scene.
PHOTO ERIC GAY, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Numerous police vehicles were at the scene on Monday.
The people in the trailer were part of an alleged attempt to smuggle migrants into the United States.
The truck is a means of transport frequently used by migrants wishing to enter the United States. Such a trip is extremely dangerous because these vehicles are rarely air-conditioned and their occupants quickly run out of water.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported 557 deaths at the Southwest border between September 2020 and September 2021, more than double the 247 reported the previous year. Most are related to heat exposure.
A “horrible human tragedy”
San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg said the 46 people who died had “families who were probably trying to find a better life.” “We are facing a horrific human tragedy,” he said.
For his part, Republican Governor of Texas Greg Abbott blamed Democratic President Joe Biden. “They are the result of its policy of open borders. They show the deadly consequences of his failure to uphold the law,” he wrote on Twitter.
The arrivals of illegal immigrants increased sharply after the election of Joe Biden, although the latter has been trying since his arrival at the White House to stem the influx of migrants.
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, political director of the American Immigration Council, wrote that he had feared such a tragedy for months. “With the border closed as tightly as it is today for migrants from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, people have been pushed down increasingly dangerous routes. Truck contraband is on the rise,” he wrote on Twitter.
“They were hoping for a better life. Lord, after Uvalde and now this, help us! We need you ! So many people are suffering. God, God, God,” said the Archbishop of San Antonio, Gustavo García-Siller.
“Once again, the lack of courage to deal with immigration reform is killing and destroying lives. We don’t learn,” he added.
The Mexican Minister of Foreign Affairs, Marcelo Ebrard, regretted on Twitter a “tragedy” and indicated that the Mexican consul, although we do not “know the nationalities” of the victims, went there.
In 2017, a similar tragedy had marked the spirits: 10 migrants had died in an overheated trailer parked in a parking lot near San Antonio. In 2003, 19 migrants were also found in a truck southeast of San Antonio.
With Agence France-Presse and the Associated Press