Bodies of 18 Immigrants Found in Truck in Texas, U.S.

Home>>World

Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, May 15, 2003

Bodies of 18 Immigrants Found in Truck in Texas, U.S.

The bodies of 18 illegal Mexican immigrants who died from suffocation and heat exhaustion were discovered on Wednesday in a packed tractor trailer abandoned at a rest stop.

DISCUSSION

CHINESE

SEND TO FRIEND

The bodies of 18 illegal Mexican immigrants who died from suffocation and heat exhaustion were discovered on Wednesday in a packed tractor trailer abandoned at a rest stop.

The gruesome find on the outskirts of the south central Texas town of Victoria was one of the worst cases of immigrant smuggling deaths in recent memory. The trailer was equipped with a refrigeration unit but it was not on at the time.

Someone from inside the sweltering truck used a cell phone to call an emergency 911 operator around midnight, frantically pleading that the immigrants were trapped and suffocating. But the call was lost and the truck rode on until Victoria.

It was two hours later when sheriff's deputies responding to a disturbance at the truck stop discovered the dead among a group of immigrants packed into the trailer, many of whom ran off when the doors were opened early on Wednesday morning.

Authorities said they could account for at least 62 immigrants, dead or alive. Michael Shelby, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas, said as many as 100 could have been inside the truck.

It appeared to have been driven roughly four hours to Victoria, from somewhere near the Mexican border.

The phone call came around midnight as the truck drove through Kingsville, more than 100 miles south of Victoria, Kingsville police chief Sam Granato said.

The Spanish-speaking caller told the English-speaking operator "We're asphyxiating. We're illegals," Granato said, but police could not trace the phone's location.

Ten minutes later a caller reported to Kingsville police having seen someone frantically waving a bandanna through a hole in the side of a trailer.

The 18 victims, including a child, more than doubled the number of illegal immigrants believed to have died in U.S.-Mexico border crossings this year.

Source: Agencies

Questions?Comments? Click here

US Expresses "Sadness and Concern" Over Mexican Migrants'Deaths

US Weighs Legal Status of Mexicans

170 Illegal Immigrants Discovered on Aegean Sea Islet

Chinese Premier on Importance, Difficulty of SARS Control in Rural Areas ( 16 Messages)

US Asks UN to Approve Iraq Occupation ( 26 Messages)

Wu Yi on Value of Traditional Medicine in SARS Treatment ( 12 Messages)

"Shenzhou V" Spacecraft to be Launched as Scheduled ( 10 Messages)

April to Turn round Unfavorable Balance in Trade ( 2 Messages)