The authorities confirmed this Monday that 46 people have died and another 16 have been injured inside the trailer of a truck parked on the outskirts of San Antonio, on the Texas (USA) border with Mexico.

Although they did not specify the nationalities of the deceased or the number of minors traveling in the vehicle, the mayor of San Antonio, Ron Nirenberg, advanced that they were migrants who had crossed the border between Mexico and the US crowded into the truck .

Three people linked to the event have been arrested, as confirmed by the chief of the San Antonio Police Department, William McManus.

“It’s a tragedy. There are 46 people who had families and were looking for a better life,” Nirenberg said at a press conference in which he also added that the crime is being investigated by federal authorities.

The mayor linked the event to the human trafficking networks that operate on the border and added that he hopes that those “responsible for putting these people in subhuman conditions are convicted.”

For the moment, the Mexican consulate in San Antonio reported that it will provide support to all “Mexican nationals, if any.”

Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard also referred to the event.

“Tragedy in Texas. Suffocated in the box of the trailer reportedly. Consul en route to the point. Condolences to the victims and their families. We still do not know nationalities,” he advanced.

According to the local press, the area where the trailer was located is a common place where vehicles stop to unload immigrants after crossing the border clandestinely. Temperatures in San Antonio reached 40ºC this Monday.

Temperatures in San Antonio reached 40ºC on Monday and authorities do not know how long the dead spent inside the truck, which was abandoned by its driver minutes before police found it.

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