16 People Were Rescued From A Hot San Antonio Truck & There Were 'Stacks Of Bodies' Inside
At least 46 dead 😞
A tractor trailer similar to the one where people where found inside. Right: San Antonio officials at a news conference.
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Several people, including children, have been rescued from a gruesome scene inside an abandoned tractor-trailer truck in San Antonio, Texas, where they’d been left for hours in the blistering heat.
Texas authorities rescued 16 people and found about 46 bodies inside the tractor-trailer Monday, in what they suspect was a human smuggling operation gone horribly wrong.
"We're not supposed to open up a truck and see stacks of bodies in there," San Antonio Fire Chief Charles Hood said at a news conference on Monday. "None of us come to work imagining that."
Authorities say the victims were all migrants who had been left behind in the truck on a hot Texas day. They were not found until about 6 p.m. on Monday.
The 16 survivors, including four children, were taken to hospital to be treated for signs of heat stroke and exhaustion, Hood said.
"The patients that we saw were hot to the touch," he said.
He added that the truck was a "refrigerated tractor-trailer, but there was no visible working A/C unit on that rig."
"Migrants seeking asylum should always be treated as a humanitarian crisis, but this evening we are facing a horrific human tragedy," San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg tweeted.
"More than 40 hopeful lives were lost. I urge you to think compassionately, pray for the deceased, the ailing, and their families at this moment."
A city employee discovered the truck on Monday evening after hearing calls for help from inside.
There were at least 22 Mexicans, seven Guatemalans and two people from Honduras in the truck, Mexico's secretary of foreign affairs said on Twitter.
It's said to be one of the worst mass-casualty incidents involving migrants in many years.
Three people were taken into custody at the scene but it was not immediately clear if they were involved, police said.
A federal investigation is underway.
This article's left-hand cover image was used for illustrative purposes only.