'Horrific Human Tragedy': 51 Migrants Found In Texas Trailer Die

SAN ANTONIO, TX — The death toll stemming from a sweltering tractor-trailer full of migrants abandoned on a remote back road in San Antonio has risen to 51, Bexar County officials said at a news conference Tuesday afternoon.

Among the victims were 39 men and 12 women, officials said.

When authorities found the trailer, 16 people were hospitalized, including four children.

A city worker heard a cry for help from the truck shortly before 6 p.m. Monday and discovered the gruesome scene, Police Chief William McManus said. Hours later, body bags lay spread on the ground near the trailer and bodies remained inside.

Officers found a body on the ground outside the trailer and a partially opened gate to the trailer. Three people were taken into custody. It was not immediately clear if they were connected with human trafficking, McManus said. The trailer was gone Tuesday morning, but access to the area where it was found remained blocked.

San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg described the dead as "families who were likely trying to find a better life."

"This is nothing short of a horrific human tragedy," he said.

The migrants' home countries and the length of time they were abandoned on the side of the road were not immediately known. Twenty-two were from Mexico, seven were from Guatemala and two were from Honduras, Roberto Velasco Álvarez, head of the North America department in Mexico's Foreign Relations Department, tweeted.

"Our condolences," he said. "All responsible will be brought to justice."

Twelve adults and four kids were taken to hospitals with heat-related illnesses, said Fire Chief Charles Hood. The patients were hot to the touch and dehydrated. No water was found in the trailer, he said.

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

Temperatures in the San Antonio area approached 100 degrees.

McManus said those in the trailer were part of a presumed migrant smuggling attempt into the United States.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported 557 deaths on the southwest border in the 12-month period ending Sept. 30. That is more than double the 247 deaths reported in the previous year and the highest since it began keeping track in 1998. Most were heat-related.

CBP has not published a death tally for this year but said that the Border Patrol performed 14,278 "search-and-rescue missions" in a seven-month period through May. That tops the 12,833 missions performed during the previous 12-month period and up from 5,071 the year before.

The Associated Press contributed reporting.