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SAN ANTONIO – A tractor-trailer found near Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio contained the bodies of 46 dead people, along with 16 others who were taken to hospitals, local officials in San Antonio said Monday night.
“This is nothing short of a horrible human tragedy,” San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg said at a news conference near the scene.
Local officials said federal authorities were now investigating the case and that three people were in custody, but it was not clear if they were related to the incident.
The horrific discovery was made near the intersection of Cassin Drive and Quintana Road in southwest San Antonio.
Federal, state and local authorities believe the victims were migrants. Cross-border smuggling and human trafficking have been longstanding problems along the US-Mexico border, but the deaths of 46 people represent a staggering loss of life. San Antonio Police Chief William McManus described the case as the city’s deadliest human smuggling incident in his memory.
Authorities received the first call about the truck shortly before 6 pm from a worker in the area who had heard a cry for help and went to investigate, McManus said.
According to a law enforcement official, it appears people were trying to jump out of the tractor trailer because some of the deceased were found across several blocks. The tractor-trailer had a refrigeration system, the official said, but it did not appear to be working. Many of the people found inside the vehicle appeared to have been sprayed with steak seasoning, the official said, perhaps in an attempt to hide the scent of the people as the smugglers transported them.
Authorities said the truck’s doors were partially open when they arrived; one body was outside the vehicle and the rest could be seen inside. City Fire Chief Charles Hood said the survivors did not appear to have access to water and were too weak to get out of the truck on their own.
“We’re not supposed to open up a truck and see piles of bodies in there,” Hood said. “None of us come to work imagining that.”
Twelve adults and four children were taken to hospitals. They were hot to the touch and suffering from heat exhaustion and heat stroke, but Hood said he was “very hopeful” they would survive.
With a few days left in the month, National Weather Service forecasters say June 2022 has already become the warmest June on record in San Antonio.
The average number of days with temperatures of 100 degrees or higher in San Antonio is nine, according to historical NWS data dating back to 1885. This year, San Antonio has had 16 days with temperatures of 100 degrees or higher, NWS Meteorologist said. Bob Fogarty. he said.
McManus told reporters he wasn’t sure everyone who had been inside the truck had been accounted for yet and authorities still don’t have an indication of how many people in total had been inside the truck. He said the three people in custody were not found with the truck, but he declined to comment further.
In 2017, San Antonio police discovered 39 undocumented immigrants inside a scorching tractor-trailer, resulting in 10 deaths. the truck driver he was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2018.
Meanwhile, in 2003, 19 undocumented immigrants were found dead in Victoria after suffocating in an airless trailer.
The Rio Grande Valley Sector Border Patrol said last week it had disrupted four human smuggling events that resulted in 50 arrests.
In a tweet responding to the incident, Governor Greg Abbott blamed the deaths on President Joe Biden, saying they “are the result of his deadly open border policies.”
Democrat Beto O’Rourke, who is running against Abbott for governor, tweeted that the incident is “devastating.”
Gustavo Garcia-Siller, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of San Antonio, wrote on Twitter: “Once again, the lack of courage to tackle immigration reform is killing and destroying lives. We don’t learn. God teach us to change.
Lomi Kriel contributed to this story.
This is a developing story; check back for more details.
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