9 Die In Immigrant-Smuggling Attempt In Sweltering TruckSAN ANTONIO (AP) — At least
nine people died after being crammed into a sweltering tractor-trailer found parked outside a Walmart in the midsummer Texas heat, authorities said Sunday in what they described as an immigrant-smuggling attempt gone wrong.
The driver was arrested, and nearly 20 others rescued from the rig were hospitalized in dire condition, many with extreme dehydration and heatstroke, officials said.
“
We’re looking at a human-trafficking crime,” Police Chief William McManus said. He called it “a horrific tragedy.”
It was just the latest smuggling-by-truck operation to end in tragedy. In one of the worst cases on record in the U.S., 19 immigrants locked inside a stifling rig died in Victoria, Texas, in 2003.
Based on initial interviews with survivors of the weekend tragedy,
more than 100 people may have been packed into the back of the 18-wheeler at some point in its journey, ICE acting Director Thomas Homan said.
Thirty-nine were inside when rescuers arrived, and the rest were believed to have escaped or hitched rides to their next destination, officials said.
Hours later, after daybreak, a helicopter hovered over the area, and investigators were still gathering evidence from the tractor-trailer, which had
an Iowa license plate and was registered to Pyle Transportation Inc. of Schaller, Iowa. A company official did not immediately respond to a phone message seeking comment.
http://dfw.cbslocal.com/2017/07/23/8-dead-truck-20-dire-immigrant-smuggling/Bodies found in trailer in San AntonioEight people were
found dead Sunday morning inside an 18-wheeler in the parking lot of a Walmart store in San Antonio, city police and fire officials said.
A total of 38 people had been inside the tractor-trailer, including two school-age children, authorities said. Twenty people were taken to area hospitals in critical condition, and another eight had “less critical” injuries.
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/07/23/bodies-found-in-trailer-in-san-antonio.html
