At least nine are dead after undocumented immigrants were found in the back of a tractor-trailer in San Antonio, Texas a week ago. The tractor-trailer was parked at a Walmart lot and an employee called police after a man that was in the trailer asked him for water. When authorities responded to the welfare check on the tractor-trailer, they found eight dead bodies and 31 people suffering from various injuries. A ninth victim later died at a hospital and authorities believe that over 100 people may have been in the back of the tractor-trailer at one point. San Antonio Police Chief William McManus stated,
Checking the video from the store, we found there were a number of vehicles that came in and picked up a lot of the folks that were in that trailer that survived the trip. Fortunately, we came across this one and fortunately there are people who survived but this happens all the time. You can see that it happens late at night under darkness because they don’t want to be discovered.
The air conditioning in the trailer was not working and the temperature in San Antonio when the people were discovered was 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Many of the people were suffering from a heat stroke or other heat related injuries, and heat stroke in particular can cause swelling of the brain and other vital organs that can cause permanent damage if a person’s body temperature isn’t quickly lowered. The case will be turned over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, who will be tasked with figuring out who the driver of the vehicle was. Luckily there weren’t any more deaths and the people that survived received the proper help.
