China News Agency, San Francisco, June 28. San Antonio, Texas, officials said on the 28th that the death toll in the case of an immigrant truck that occurred there on the 27th had risen to 51.
On the 27th, law enforcement officers found 46 bodies in and near a trailer truck in southwest San Antonio, and 16 people were taken to the hospital for treatment.
The Associated Press quoted Beale County Judge Nelson Wolf, where the incident occurred, as saying that five more people later died in the hospital.
Craig Laraby, an official with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security investigating the case, said it was the deadliest human smuggling case in U.S. history.
CNN reported that 39 men and 12 women were among the dead, Bill County official Rebecca Clay-Floris said on the 28th.
As of that day, at least 34 of the dead had been identified.
According to Floris, some of the deceased were under the age of 18.
Mexican Foreign Minister Ebrard said on social platforms that 22 of the dead were confirmed to be from Mexico, seven from Guatemala and two from Honduras.
The Associated Press quoted Texas Rep. Henry Cuellar as saying that the driver of the truck involved and two others were arrested.
He said the truck entered the U.S. through a Border Patrol checkpoint on Interstate 35 northeast of Laredo, Texas, and it was unclear whether the truck was carrying migrants at the stop.
Southern Texas has long been a hotspot for illegal border crossings.
Larabi said U.S. authorities found trucks with migrants in the area almost every day.
In May, U.S. border agents arrested nearly 240,000 illegal immigrants at the U.S.-Mexico border, a record high and an increase of about one-third from the same period last year.
(Finish)