As officials started the painful work of identifying 51 people who died after being abandoned in a tractor-trailer without air conditioning in the scorching Texas heat on Tuesday, desperate families of migrants from Mexico and Central America anxiously searched for word of their loved ones.
Migrants who were transported across the border from Mexico perished in the greatest catastrophe. U.S. Representative Henry Cuellar of Texas told The Associated Press that the truck's driver and two additional passengers had been detained. He claimed that the truck had driven through a Border Patrol checkpoint on Interstate 35, just northeast of Laredo, Texas.
When the truck passed through the checkpoint, he had no idea if there were any migrants inside. According to criminal allegations submitted by the U.S. attorney's office, investigators tracked the truck's registration to a house in San Antonio and apprehended two inpiduals from Mexico for having guns in their possession.
There were no specific claims made in the complaints regarding the fatalities. Police Chief William McManus said the bodies were located Monday afternoon on the outskirts of San Antonio after a city worker heard a plea for assistance from the truck parked on a lonely back road and discovered the horrific scene inside.
Body bags were scattered out on the ground hours later. Four children were among the more than a dozen patients who were rushed to hospitals with hot to the touch bodies. He claimed that most of the deceased were men. According to Craig Larrabee, acting special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations in San Antonio, the number of fatalities was the greatest ever from a smuggling attempt in the United States.
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