By Evan Garcia
SAN ANTONIO (Reuters) – The death toll of deceased migrants found inside a truck in Texas rose to 50 on Tuesday, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said, in one of the most deadly recent incidents of human smuggling along the U.S.-Mexico border.
The deceased migrants were discovered inside a tractor-trailer on Monday in San Antonio, Texas, where temperatures swelled to a high of 103 degrees Fahrenheit (39.4 degrees Celsius).
Local and U.S. authorities said there were no signs of water and no visible working air conditioning inside the truck.
“I want to offer my condolences to the relatives of this catastrophe,” Lopez Obrador said.
Some 22 Mexicans, seven Guatemalans and two Hondurans were identified among the dead, Mexico Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said on Twitter on Tuesday. There was no information on the nationality of another 19, Mexican officials said.
The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said that its Homeland Security Investigations division was conducting a criminal investigation into “an alleged human smuggling event” in coordination with local police.
Sixteen other people found inside the trailer were transported to hospitals for heat stroke and exhaustion, including four minors, but no children were among the dead, the San Antonio Fire Department said.
Lopez Obrador on Tuesday said he will meet with U.S. President Joe Biden in Washington on July 12. He said migration will be a central issue in their discussions.
(Reporting by Valentine Hilaire in Mexico; Editing by Mark Porter)
