Video After The Jump
(CNN) Fifty migrants are believed to have died after they and others were found in sweltering conditions in a semitruck in San Antonio, a federal law enforcement official said Tuesday, in a scene the mayor called a "horrific human tragedy."
The death toll, which the city's fire chief set Monday at 46, includes migrants believed to be mostly from Mexico, as well as Guatemala & Honduras. Their discovery Monday comes as US federal authorities have launched an "unprecedented" operation to disrupt human smuggling networks amid an influx of migrants at the US-Mexico border.
"An alleged human smuggling event" was alerted by San Antonio police to the US Department of Homeland Security's investigation unit, which is leading the probe, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesperson said Monday. The incident appears to be among the most deadly in recent years for migrants near the southern border.
3 people are in police custody, though their connection to the situation is unclear.
Authorities were alerted to the scene just before 6 p.m., when a worker in a nearby building heard a cry for help. The worker found a trailer with doors partially opened & saw people deceased inside.
48 people died on the scene & 2 died at hospitals, the federal law enforcement official told CNN on Tuesday, noting the toll is preliminary.
16 people -- 12 adults & 4 children -- were taken alive & conscious to medical facilities.
Patients were hot to the touch & suffering from heat stroke & exhaustion. There was no sign of water in the refrigerated semitractor-trailer & no visible working air conditioning unit.
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