Over 50 families from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador were left aggrieved after a failed human smuggling attempt claimed the lives of their beloveds in San Antonio. The U.S is in the process of repatriating the deceased to their respective families and countries for burial.
A 911 call from a native of San Antonio brought to the attention of law enforcement an abandoned red truck and trailer parked by the sides of a road in San Antonio on the 27th of June 2022.
Upon arrival on the scene and investigations, 50 dead bodies of adults-men and women, and 3 children were recovered from the red truck. Other injured immigrants were found along the road and rescued.
It is alleged that the deceased died from asphyxiation as the red truck had no cooling system and was sealed shut;Temperatures around the time of day had also hit over a hundred degrees Another factor which could have led to their death was the time they had been travelling in such a congested space at that high temperature.
It is unknown if the truck was intentionally abandoned by the drivers, or a supposed unwise rest stop by the drivers- forgetting there were over 50 crowded human beings behind the truck on a warm afternoon- led to the death of the immigrants.
To simply put, the means of human trafficking was a very unwise decision. It must not have occurred to the perpetrators that keeping human life in a sealed container for hours without oxygen could lead to their death; Their logic and sense of reasoning drastically failed them.
In a gory sight, this marks one of the worst human smuggling deaths in U.S history.
The 50+ immigrants who were travelling in the back of the red truck driven by Mr Zamorano and Mr Martinez were from poverty-stricken communities in Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador. Amongst the deceased were teenagers who were fleeing to the states in search of education and jobs and, adults in search of better means of income for their families.
The indicted men, Zamorano and Martinez, could face either the life sentence or the death penalty.
Another worst case of smuggling occurred on the 9th of December 2021, after a truck carrying over a hundred Mexicans from South Mexico crashed in a gory accident on its way to the United States. 54 people were killed and over 54 injured.
