Authorities in San Antonio, Texas, found a semi-truck at a Walmart parking lot with eight dead migrants in the trailer, and nearly 20 others were taken to the hospital in serious condition. The temperature in the city rose above 100 degrees on Saturday, and it’s believed the migrants were held in the back while human traffickers slowly moved groups away. There was no air conditioning in the trailer, and many migrants suffered heat stroke.
The migrants were discovered after someone who escaped from the truck approached a Walmart employee and asked for water. The employee returned with the water, then called the police. Paramedics arrived at about 12:30 a.m. Sunday and they found about 38 migrants in all. Of the survivors, many had heart rates above 130 beats per minute. The air conditioning in the trailer was not working when authorities arrived, and some survivors are expected to have brain damage from the extreme temperature. Among those found were two children, the youngest 15; the others were in their 20s and 30s. “These people were helpless in the hands of their transporters,” U.S. attorney for the Western District of Texas, Richard Durbin Jr., said. “Imagine their suffering, trapped in a stifling trailer in 100-plus-degree heat.”