San Antonio police Chief William McManus said the first call regarding the truck came in just before 6 p.m. A city worker in a nearby building heard a cry for help coming from the trailer and called the police, McManus said, according to Dallas News.
San Antonio Fire Department Chief Charles Hood said the doors to the trailer were open and at least one body was outside of the truck. Of the 16 people taken to nearby hospitals, 12 are adults and four are pediatric patients, Hood said. There were no signs of water inside the trailer.
“The patients that we saw were hot to the touch,” he said. “They were suffering from heatstroke, exhaustion.”
Several law enforcement vehicles were near the 9600 block of Quintana Road Monday evening, KSAT-TV reported, and U.S. Border Patrol officers arrived at about 8 p.m.
Police took three people into custody, Chief McManus said. Details about the suspects were not released.
The mass death may be the deadliest tragedy among thousands who have died attempting to cross the US border from Mexico in recent decades.
MP/PR
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