SAN ANTONIO — A U.S. attorney announced a federal indictment on Friday against 11 people in the smuggling deaths of seven migrants who were hiding inside a sweltering rail cargo container in Texas in May.
Six people were found dead inside the shipping container in a rail yard in Laredo, Texas, and another had been left for dead alongside the tracks along the way, according to the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Texas, Justin R. Simmons.
“It’s very hard to survive in an un-air conditioned, sealed container with ... the temperature being what it was on that day,” Simmons said.
The group boarded the train in the Texas border town of Del Rio and headed to San Antonio, which officials believe was their intended final destination. But when smugglers opened the door, a man fell out, so the smugglers closed the door and fled. It's unclear if he was already dead by then, Simmons said.
The remaining six people were left inside the shipping container, and the next day the train departed for Laredo, where a worker at the Union Pacific Rail Yard saw a leg sticking out and found the six bodies inside.
“One of those individuals frantically contacted their family as they were dying from the sweltering heat in that container,” Simmons said.
The migrants were from Honduras and Mexico and included a 14-year-old boy, authorities said. Six of the bodies were discovered by a Union Pacific employee. The Webb County medical examiner suspected the deaths were caused by hyperthermia, or heat stroke.
The shipping container was stacked on top of another container, could not be opened from the inside and had no ventilation or cooling system. The temperatures that day ranged from 88 to 92 degrees Fahrenheit (31 to 33 degrees Celsius), the U.S. Attorney’s office said.
The group was indicted on two charges: Conspiracy to transport aliens, resulting in death, and aiding and abetting the transportation of aliens resulting in death. Each charge carries a maximum penalty of life in prison, Simmons said.
The migrants paid “generally the equivalent of $1,500 -$10,000 to individuals in Honduras, Mexico, the United States, and elsewhere, to be transported into the interior of the United States,” according to the indictment.
One of the defendants was arrested May 12 in Del Rio, and eight more were arrested over several days last week in central and south Texas. Two of the 11 remain at large, including a man and a woman. Officials said four are U.S. citizens and two are permanent U.S. residents. They didn’t specify any other nationalities.
Smuggling on trains has long been a concern partly because trains headed to the United States often slow or stop in Mexico before crossing the border. That creates an opportunity for smugglers or immigrants to climb aboard or hide drugs or other contraband on a train before it enters the U.S.
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