San Antonio Semi-Truck Tragedy: Migrant Death Toll Reaches 53, Identifying Victims Difficult

The San Antonio Semi-Truck Tragedy, where dozens of migrants were found dead inside a tractor-trailer, has now become the deadliest smuggling episode along the U.S.-Mexico border. Two more people died on Wednesday, increasing the death toll to 53.

The Associated Press reported that the semi-truck carried 67 people. Many of the migrants who packed into the truck's trailer, 27 of them, were Mexican. However, there were also others from other Latin countries. Fourteen of them were from Honduras, seven were from Guatemala, and two were from El Salvador, according to Mexico's National Immigration Institute chief, Francisco Garduño. Meanwhile, 40 of the victims were male.

Identifying Victims Is Posing a Challenge

Officials from the Bexar County Medical Examiner's Office had announced that they have 37 victims potentially identified, and verification is still pending. However, identifying them has proven to be a big challenge, as many did not have any identification documents. In one case, one even carried a stolen ID.

One of the migrants' supposed ID cards shared by Mexico's Foreign Affairs Secretary was from a Haneydi Antonio Guzman. However, this turned out to be fake, as Guzman was safely living in her mountain community in Mexico.

The AP reports that the 23-year-old Mexican citizen received messages from family and friends asking if she was OK when her ID surfaced with one of the victims. She admitted that it is indeed her on the ID, but said that she was not one of the people in that trailer and that her ID was stolen last year.

Some of the migrants also came from remote villages in Mexico and Central America. This makes it more challenging as these villages likely do not have any phone service to reach family members or have little to no fingerprint data.

Families of the victims now await grim news on the fate of loved ones. According to the AP, José Luis Vásquez Guzmán, one of the survivors currently under treatment in a San Antonio hospital, went with a cousin who is now missing. His name is Javier Flores López, and his family is awaiting news of his fate. Lopez worked in construction in Ohio but had to go back home to Mexico to visit his wife and children.

Truck May Have Picked up Migrants in the United States and Not Mexico

It is still unclear where the migrants boarded the truck. However, investigators from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) believe that the migrants were already on U.S. soil when they boarded the truck. According to U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, they may have even boarded near or in Laredo, Texas.

Both U.S. and Mexican officials have confirmed that the truck went through a Border Patrol checkpoint northeast of Laredo, via Interstate 35. It was registered to Alamo, Texas, although it had fake plates and logos. Mexican officials also released a photo of driver Homero Zamorano Jr. while at the checkpoint.

Authorities are now looking into whether the truck suffered mechanical problems resulting in Zamorano abandoning the vehicle amid the scorching Texas heat, which killed those inside the trailer.

Zamorano has been arrested, along with two others. He is now charged with smuggling resulting in death.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Rick Martin

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