Texas migrant deaths: Suspected truck driver is charged - TrendyNewsReporters Texas migrant deaths: Suspected truck driver is charged - TrendyNewsReporters
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Texas migrant deaths: Suspected truck driver is charged

by Ebor Cletus Ralph Jr

Charges of migrant smuggling resulting in death have been brought against the accused driver of a truck that was discovered abandoned in Texas and included numerous bodies.

Police in San Antonio apprehended Homero Zamorano after discovering him pretending to be a migrant in a bush close to the lorry.

After being locked inside the vehicle in sweltering heat for hours without any water, around 53 people perished in the disaster, many from heatstroke and dehydration.

The episode is the bloodiest involving human trafficking in US history.

The alleged driver, Mr. Zamorano, a Texas native, “tried to pass himself off as one of the survivors” when he was discovered by authorities, according to a top Mexican immigration official.

Christian Martinez, a second suspect, was detained on suspicion of conspiring. According to federal prosecutors, detectives located him after looking through Mr. Zamorano’s phone and finding evidence of their communication.

According to the US Justice Department, if found guilty, the two men may receive a maximum sentence of life in prison or even the death penalty.

Additionally, two more suspects connected to the truck’s registration address have been detained for gun-related offences.

On Monday evening, when emergency personnel arrived to a remote road in San Antonio, they discovered 46 dead people inside and around the abandoned car, whose doors were wide open.

When the rescuers came, none of the occupants of the truck—which was only discovered after a neighbouring worker overheard pleas for help—were awake. Only a handful of individuals found inside the car looked to be breathing, according to official radio broadcasts from the scene.

The death toll subsequently rose to 53, after a number of those hospitalised died.

A memorial has emerged at the site of the tragedy, around 250km (160 miles) north of the US-Mexico border, and on Wednesday local Texas residents gathered there to mourn.

“All of this breaks my heart because I have family who have been through the same thing,” Veronica Vazquez told AFP news agency.

Another local who himself arrived in the US as an undocumented worker, Roberto Alvarez, came with roses and candles to remember the victims.

“You put yourself a little bit in their place” he said, “because you also lived through it.”

Bottles of water were also left at the site – earlier police said there was no water or air-conditioning on the truck.

More than half of the deceased—about 27 people—were from Mexico. According to the Mexican authorities, 14 more Hondurans, seven Guatemalans, and two El Salvadoreans also perished.

The disaster claimed the lives of several people, including two Guatemalan boys, ages 13 and 14. Their home country’s government confirmed this on Wednesday.

Cousins Pascual Melvin Guachiac and Juan Wilmer Tulul fled their homes two weeks ago to flee poverty, according to Pascual’s mother, who was mentioned in Guatemalan media.

The adolescent relatives had informed their family on Monday that they were travelling to San Antonio just hours before the vehicle was found abandoned.

The migrants most likely crossed the border in smaller groups, according to Mexican immigration officials, before coming together in a hidden safe house inside the US, where they would have been squeezed onto the vehicle for the next leg of their journey.

The officials said that the smugglers may have used a smelly substance to cover up the smell of people inside the lorry so they wouldn’t be discovered by canine patrols.

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