Police block the scene where a semitrailer with multiple dead bodies were discovered in San Antonio.
Highlights
- A US official said 15 others in the truck were taken to hospitals in the San Antonio
- Big rigs emerged as a popular smuggling method in the early 1990s
- Before that, people paid small fees to mom-and-pop operators to get them across an unguarded border
San Antonio: At least 46 people were found dead inside a tractor-trailer in South Texas of the United States of America on Monday (local time). The incident is presumed to be a migrant smuggling attempt.
Commenting on the incident, a US official said 15 others in the truck were taken to hospitals in San Antonio.
It may be the deadliest tragedy among thousands who have died attempting to cross the US border from Mexico in recent decades.
In 2017, 10 migrants died after being trapped inside a truck that was parked at a Walmart in San Antonio. In 2003, 19 migrants were found in a sweltering truck southeast of San Antonio.
Big rigs emerged as a popular smuggling method in the early 1990s amid a surge in US border enforcement in San Diego and El Paso, Texas, which were then the busiest corridors for illegal crossings.
Before that, people paid small fees to mom-and-pop operators to get them across a largely unguarded border. As crossing became exponentially more difficult after the 2001 terror attacks in the US, migrants were led through more dangerous terrain and paid thousands of dollars more.
Heat poses a serious danger, particularly when temperatures can rise severely inside vehicles.
(With inputs from AP)
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