By Steve Gorman
May 14 (Reuters) – The six people found dead inside a sweltering railroad boxcar in Laredo, Texas, over the weekend were stowaway migrants from Mexico and Honduras who fell victim to the perils of human smuggling, officials said on Thursday.
Preliminary medical reports determined that all six died from severe heat stroke hours before the freight train they were riding on arrived on Sunday in Laredo, the largest inland port on the U.S.-Mexico border, according to Mayor Victor Trevino.
“They did not pass away in our city but were discovered here after hours of suffering and eventually dying several hours before arriving,” Trevino told reporters at a news conference.
A Union Pacific railroad worker found the bodies on Sunday afternoon and alerted law enforcement, touching off an investigation that federal authorities leading the probe are treating as a human smuggling case, officials said.
Temperatures in Laredo reached a high of 97 degrees Fahrenheit on Sunday, according to Texas Public Radio.
Police Chief Miguel Rodriguez Jr said the southbound train originated in Long Beach, California. Investigators believe the six migrants were loaded into the boxcar on Saturday in Del Rio, Texas, north of Laredo along the Rio Grande border.
The chief said three of the victims were from Mexico and three from Honduras. The youngest of the group was a 14-year-old boy. One of the six was a Mexican woman. The rest were adult males. No survivors were found with them.
“We are demanding justice for these lives lost,” the mayor said. “It doesn’t matter where they came from. Those responsible for trafficking and placing human beings in such dangerous and inhumane conditions must be held accountable.”
Trevino warned that migrants put themselves at grave risk by placing their lives in the hands of unscrupulous human traffickers.
“To those who may be considering this dangerous journey, I speak to you with both compassion and urgency. We understand the desire for a better life. But do not come here illegally. The journey is clearly dangerous, and too often it ends in tragedy,” the mayor said.
The Laredo deaths marked the latest occasion of attempted border crossings by stowaways in trains and tractor-trailers ending in multiple fatalities, including a 2022 incident in which 53 migrants were found dead in an abandoned truck with malfunctioning air-conditioning on the outskirts of San Antonio, Texas.
(Reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Editing by David Gregorio)
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