Accordingly to reports reaching oyogist, at least 46 people were found dead inside of a semi-truck in San Antonio, Texas, Monday evening, June 27.
City councilwoman Adriana Rocha Garcia referred to the victims as migrants, after she was briefed on the situation by the San Antonio police chief.
The trailer was discovered on a road in the southwest of the city’s downtown by a local worker who heard a cry for help around 6pm, police said.
When he came to investigate, he found the doors partially open and a number of deceased individuals inside.
Sixteen survivors, including four children, were taken to local hospitals suffering from heat stroke and heat exhaustion, the city’s fire chief Charles Hood told reporters at a press conference.
Mr Hood said those taken alive from the trailer were “hot to the touch,” but were likely to survive.
“It is our hope and prayer that the conditions of those that were transported will improve as we speak,” he added.
San Antonio police chief William McManus said three people were in custody following a preliminary investigation, but declined to give further details.
The investigation is now being handled by the Department of Homeland Security.
The cause of the deaths is currently unknown, but smugglers are often known to use trailers to transport large numbers of migrants, and temperatures in the San Antonio and southern Texas have reached 100 degrees in recent weeks.
