Last night (March 24, 2023), the Mexican media reported that two migrants were found dead and at least 10 others were hospitalized after authorities received a call that they were suffocating in a train car traveling near the border between the United States and Mexico.
The Uvalde, Texas Police Department said Border Patrol was informed of the phone call and was able to stop the train. About 15 migrants were found inside, according to a statement from the department.
In the USA, a number of media outlets have picked up the story:
NBC News
The patients were assumed to be migrants, according to Uvalde city police. As many as 15 people needing medical attention were found on the train after it was stopped a few miles west of Knippa, police said.
Two were pronounced dead at the scene, police said.
Texas Public Radio
Uvalde police closed a segment of U.S. Highway 90, between Knippa and Sabinal, so medical helicopters could land and treat the injured. Five people were flown to area hospitals, and five others were flown to hospitals in the San Antonio area. Their conditions were not immediately known.
In an interview with TPR, Don McLaughlin, the mayor of Uvalde, reported similar information. He said he learned the train had sat on the tracks, in the afternoon sun, for about three hours.
He said, "911 got a call — don't know if it was from a family member or one of the migrants who were locked in the shipping container."
AP
ICE Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) said it was investigating the possibility of human smuggling but wouldn't provide any more details.
...
The segment of Highway 90 between the border town of Del Rio and San Antonio has become a major human trafficking route.
McLaughlin said that law enforcement in the area have discovered migrants on trains, and they regularly encounter human smugglers in high speed vehicle chases through the area.
"We deal with this every day down here," he said. "Not deaths every day but we're dealing with immigrants every day. Seven days a week."
Does anyone know more details? Who were these people? Men? Women? Children? Where did they come from? Where were they going? If you have ever been on the other side of that phone call, you can understand the fear families back home are having and the anguish when a tragedy is confirmed. I know that the Kos Community gets that — I just want to make sure the rest of the world acknowledges it as well.
The AP story — with the mis-spelling of Uvalde in the photo caption — also has a link to another story about migrants being targeted for kidnapping and monetary shake-downs in the Houston, Texas area.