At least six bodies were found inside one of the compartments of a Union Pacific train in the Laredo, Texas area near the US border. Police officers responded to the incident at around 2.30 on Sunday, May 10, after a Union Pacific employee alerted of multiple people found dead inside a trailer box car in the 12000 block of Jim Young Way.
Police have not yet determined the cause of death, said Laredo Police Department investigator Joe Baeza. The investigation is ongoing, he added. "There were no survivors," he stated.
The shocking incident comes after areas near the Texas border, including Laredo, are facing high temperatures, with weather data showing temperatures reaching 95 degrees Celsius and a heat index of up to 104 degrees on Sunday afternoon. So far, authorities have not released the nationality of the people found or any further details about the case.
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This is not an isolated incident; deaths on trains and tractor-trailers near the US - Mexico border have involved migrants. On June 27, 2022, 53 people from Mexico, Guatemala, and Honduras were found in a truck with a broken air conditioner that had been abandoned on the outskirts of San Antonio, on a day when temperatures reached almost 40 degrees.
After a year, US authorities arrested four Mexicans in Texas who had been accused of operating a human trafficking network responsible for the deaths of migrants.