San Antonio (CNN)The inhumane conditions from a boiling-hot tractor trailer have killed a 10th person in San Antonio -- making it one of the deadliest human smuggling cases in recent history.
Eight undocumented immigrants were found dead inside the truck, which was stopped at a San Antonio Walmart, early Sunday morning. Since then, two people who were hospitalized have died, officials said.
The 10th death came hours before the driver of the tractor trailer, James Matthew Bradley Jr., was due in court Monday. Bradley is accused of hauling as many as 100 people in an unrefrigerated semi truck in the scorching Texas heat.
More than two dozen people who were inside the truck were severely injured in what the San Antonio police chief called "a human trafficking crime."
"Checking the video from the store, we found there were a number of vehicles that came in and picked up a lot of the folks that were in that trailer that survived the trip," Police Chief William McManus said.
"The driver and whoever else we find is involved in this will be facing state and federal charges," he said.
Prosecutors plan to file a criminal complaint against Bradley in federal court on Monday morning.
"These people were helpless in the hands of their transporters," said Richard L. Durbin Jr., US attorney for the Western District of Texas. "All were victims of ruthless human smugglers indifferent to the well-being of their fragile cargo."
More than 100 undocumented immigrants may have been crowded into the trailer during the journey, according to Thomas Homan, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement's acting director, citing initial interviews with survivors.
Source: http://edition.cnn.com/2017/07/24/us/san-antonio-trailer-migrants/index.html
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