Three in custody after 46 bodies found in southern Texas lorry trailer

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Three In Custody After 46 Bodies Found In Southern Texas Lorry Trailer
Police block the scene where a lorry trailer with multiple dead bodies was discovered, © AP/Press Association Images
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By Eric Gay and Elliot Spagat, Associated Press

Three people were in custody after 46 bodies were found in a lorry trailer containing suspected migrants on the outskirts of San Antonio.

However, police chief William McManus said it was unclear if those arrested were connected with human trafficking.

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Some sixteen people were taken to hospitals after the lorry was found on a remote back road near the south-west Texas city.

A city worker at the scene was alerted to the situation by a cry for help shortly before 6pm (12am BST)on Monday, Mr McManus said, adding that officers arrived to find a body on the ground and a partially opened gate to the trailer.

Onlookers stand near the scene where a lorry trailer with multiple dead bodies was discovered
A cry for help led to the discovery of dozens of bodies outside San Antonio (Eric Gay/AP)

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Of the 16 taken to hospitals with heat-related illnesses, 12 were adults and four were children, said fire chief Charles Hood. The patients were hot to the touch and dehydrated, with the trailer lacking water or air-conditioning, he said.

“They were suffering from heat stroke and exhaustion,” Mr Hood said. “It was a refrigerated tractor-trailer, but there was no visible working AC unit on that rig.”

San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg said the 46 who died had “families who were likely trying to find a better life”.

“This is nothing short of a horrific human tragedy,” Mr Nirenberg added.

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Those in the trailer were part of a presumed migrant smuggling attempt into the US and the investigation was being led by Homeland Security Investigations, Mr McManus said.

An ambulance drives back along a row of cars
Heat poses a serious danger for those trying to cross the Mexico border into Texas via lorries (Eric Gay/AP)

It may be the deadliest tragedy among thousands where people have died attempting to cross the border from Mexico in recent decades.

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Ten migrants died in 2017 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 south-east of San Antonio.

Lorries 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 more.

Heat poses a serious danger, particularly when temperatures can rise severely inside vehicles.

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