The death toll of migrants found on Monday inside a sweltering 18-wheeler in San Antonio, a major city in the south-central US state of Texas, has risen to 53 after two more migrants died, according to the Bexar County Medical Examiner's Office on Wednesday.
Of the dead, 40 were male and 13 were female, the office said. Authorities said the tragedy saw the highest ever death count from human trafficking near the US-Mexico border.
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Francisco Garduno Yanez, the head of Mexico's National Immigration Institute, told a press conference on Wednesday that at least 27 victims were from Mexico, 14 from Honduras, seven from Guatemala, and two from El Salvador. Three victims' nationalities remain unknown.
The tractor-trailer with a fake plate was carrying 67 migrants, said Garduno. The driver of the vehicle, identified as Homero Zamorano, 45, has been taken into federal custody after he abandoned the vehicle in a desolate area and fled the scene, according to the San Antonio Express-News.
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Two other men, both Mexican citizens, were charged on Tuesday with possessing firearms while residing in the United States illegally, according to court documents and US authorities. Police arrested them at an address in San Antonio listed on the tractor-trailer's registration.
Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott told another press conference on Wednesday that the state will immediately start additional truck checkpoints to target trucks like the one found in San Antonio.
US President Joe Biden said initial reports showed that the tragedy was caused by smugglers or human traffickers. Death is a constant risk for undocumented migrants entering Texas, said a report by The Texas Tribune, noting that in 1987, 2003, and 2017, groups of migrants died of heat and dehydration in Texas after being trapped in stifling containers.
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