The afternoon of Monday, April 27, was tragic in the United States and for several Latin American countries when the bodies of 50 migrants who died in Texas were found inside the back of an abandoned truck southwest of San Antonio.
The terrible news was announced by local authorities, who confirmed on Tuesday morning that among the deceased there are 22 Mexicans, seven Guatemalans and two Hondurans, while 19 of them have not been identified.
"You don't come to work expecting to open the door of a semi-trailer and see a pile of dead people," Fire Chief Charles Hood said Monday night.
During a press conference, he explained that the people locked in the trailer had no water or air conditioning, all in the midst of a massive heat wave that was not letting up.
According to authorities, emergency services rescued 16 people: 12 adults and four minors, who were conscious when they were transferred to hospitals in the city, 250 kilometers from the border with Mexico.
Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard reported the tragic event on his Twitter account, where he highlighted that the Mexican consul in San Antonio, Rubén Minutti, was already at the scene, obtaining details of what happened.
He also said that the injured were sent to four hospitals: University, Methodist del Centro, Baptiste del Centro and Santa Rosa West Overhills.
"The patients were very hot to the touch, they had suffered heat stroke, as there was no indication that there was water in the vehicle," Hood said of the migrants found.
He also said that survivors are expected to make a full recovery.
It should be noted that three people have been arrested so far, said William McManus, San Antonio police chief, who did not give further details about the role of those arrested in the latest tragedy, which is one of many cases like this, where people who are victims of traffickers lose their lives in their attempt to reach the United States in search of a better life.
Police said they responded to a call to emergency services at 5:55 p.m. Monday, where a person reported the presence of a body at Cassin and Quintana streets, near Lackland Air Force Base, 10 miles from downtown.
In the 911 call, the informant detailed that he had heard screams coming from inside the trailer of the truck that was parked near the train tracks.
Police arrived at the scene to find a tragedy. There was a body lying outside in the back of the truck, and others were visible when the doors of the vehicle were opened.
Following the discovery, 20 units with 65 firefighters and a dozen ambulances arrived at the site to offer support to the survivors who were too weak to make their way through the remains. The first was rescued seven minutes after six. The last, at 18:57.
McManus explained that the investigation of the case has been left in federal hands, actions to which Mexico will join, said Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard, who confirmed a meeting between Presidents Andrés Manuel López Obrador and Joseph Biden on July 12, where, without a doubt, the topic of migration will be discussed.
With information from The Country and the Twitter account of the Mexican foreign minister Marcelo Ebrard.
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