As of Tuesday morning, June 28, the Mexican Consulate reports that 50 immigrants are now dead from being left in the back of an open truck in the 9600 block of Quintana Road on the Southwest Side on Monday, June 27. . This is what we know so far.
Mexican consulate Marcelo Ebrard tweeted Tuesday that he received information from the Department of Homeland Security that 50 immigrants are now dead, four more than the initial 46 reported Monday night. A Baptist Health System spokesperson confirms that two of the people brought from the truck have died as of Tuesday morning. Three others are in critical condition.
University Hospital tweeted this morning that it is treating a 23-year-old woman and a child from the incident.
Ebrard says that of the immigrants who died, 22 were from Mexico, seven were from Guatemala and two were from Honduras. He said US officials are still working to identify the other bodies. Secretary of Foreign Affairs of Honduras Enrique Reina he said in a tweet that the Honduran government is investigating whether there were more Hondurans in the semi.
San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg speaks about the tragedy at the site where at least 50 immigrants have died after being left in the back of a truck.
Billy Calzada/Team Photographer“Piles of Bodies”
The San Antonio Fire Department and other first responders were called to a parked truck in the 9600 block of Quintana Road around 6:00 pm Monday. Fire Chief Charles Hood says firefighters discovered “piles of bodies” in the trailer attached to the truck with no sign of running water or air conditioning.
Authorities initially reported that 46 immigrants died at the scene and 16 immigrants, 12 adults and four children, were transported to area hospitals. Those hospitals are Baptist Health System, University Hospital and Texas Vista Medical Center.
San Antonio Police Chief William McManus said late Monday that three unidentified people have been taken into custody and the investigation has been turned over to Homeland Security Investigations.
Similarities to the 2017 incident
McManus says this is the deadliest human trafficking case in recent memory.
The police chief told reporters on Monday, hours after the discovery of 46 bodies, that the situation was unparalleled. In July 2017, James Matthew Bradley Jr., a Kentucky truck driver, was found with 39 immigrants in his tractor-trailer parked at a Walmart on the South Side.
The parking lot is six miles from where the truck was found on Quintana Road on Monday. In the 2017 case, eight were dead when officials arrived and two died in area hospitals. The 61-year-old truck driver was sentenced to life in federal prison.
A year later, Immigration and Customs Enforcement launched a human smuggling investigation after 55 people were found in a truck on the Northeast Side. Five people suffered minor injuries, but no deaths were reported.
Reference-www.mysanantonio.com