Two people died among about fifteen migrants who “suffocated” in a train immobilized by the authorities in Texas (southern United States) after an anonymous emergency call on Friday, local police announced in a press release.
A sordid discovery. US border guards stopped a train Friday, March 24, 2023, in Texas. Inside were fifteen migrants locked in sweltering heat. Two of them died.
US border guards stopped the train east of Knippa, a town in southern Texas not far from San Antonio, she said.
“About fifteen migrants were discovered in need of immediate medical attention”, ten of them were transported to hospitals, five of them by air, but their state of health remained “unknown”, explained the police of Uvalde. “Two of the migrants have been declared dead,” she added.
“Smugglers are insensitive and only interested in making money”
Don McLaughlin, mayor of Uvalde, confirmed the deaths of two people but said 17 people were actually locked in a container, ABC News reported. Twelve were taken to hospital and three were “OK”, he noted.
Union Pacific rail freight company “will investigate” the incident, police said. Temperatures reached 30 degrees Celsius near where the train was stopped in the late afternoon, according to KSAT.com, an ABC affiliate in San Antonio. The anonymous emergency call was received at 3:50 p.m. (8:50 p.m. GMT).
“We are heartbroken to learn of yet another tragic incident involving migrants undertaking this dangerous journey,” tweeted Alejandro Mayorkas, US Secretary of Homeland Security. “We will work with the Uvalde Sheriff’s Office to hold accountable those responsible,” he added. “The smugglers are insensitive and only interested in making money,” he said.
In January, US authorities made more than 128,000 arrests for attempted illegal entry into US territory from Mexico. On June 27, 2022, 56 migrants were found asphyxiated in an abandoned trailer near San Antonio (Texas).
