17 immigrants die in truck trailer
T.A. Badger - Associated Press
Issue date: 5/15/03 Section: Nation
VICTORIA, Texas - Seventeen people were found dead Wednesday when authorities opened up a sweltering, airless trailer that had been abandoned at a South Texas truck stop with more than 100 illegal immigrants locked inside. An 18th victim died later at a hospital in one of the deadliest smuggling attempts on record in the United States.
The men, women, and children from Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras were apparently so desperate for air that they tried to claw through insulation on the back door. At least one of those trapped inside placed a desperate call to police late Tuesday, saying people were suffocating and pleading with a dispatcher to "help me."
When sheriff's deputies opened the trailer about 2 a.m., "a flood of human beings" spilled out, U.S. Attorney Michael Shelby said. Many ran off, but others were too weak to go far.
Thirteen bodies were found inside the trailer and four more on the ground just outside. A boy, 5 or 6 years old, was among the dead.
Authorities said one of three suspected smugglers was arrested Wednesday in the Houston area, approximately 115 miles northeast of Victoria. The man, Tyrone Williams of Schenectady, N.Y., was not immediately charged.
The trailer had New York plates and it is registered in Williams' name, Shelby said. Authorities were still looking for two more suspects, whose names were not released.
The smugglers apparently unhitched the trailer at the truck stop near Victoria, around 175 miles from the Mexican border, and drove off. Insulation around several small holes in the back door was scraped away, suggesting the immigrants had tried to get out.
Someone inside also placed a phone call to authorities pleading for help. The 911 call to police in Kingsville, 100 miles south of Victoria, came in just before midnight Tuesday from a Spanish speaker on a cellular phone with lots of yelling and background noise.
Police Chief Sam Granato said the dispatcher passed the call to someone who spoke Spanish, but the call was cut off, and the number couldn't be traced. But after listening to a digital recording, Granato said police were able to hear the man saying thatpeople were asphyxiating.
The men, women, and children from Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras were apparently so desperate for air that they tried to claw through insulation on the back door. At least one of those trapped inside placed a desperate call to police late Tuesday, saying people were suffocating and pleading with a dispatcher to "help me."
When sheriff's deputies opened the trailer about 2 a.m., "a flood of human beings" spilled out, U.S. Attorney Michael Shelby said. Many ran off, but others were too weak to go far.
Thirteen bodies were found inside the trailer and four more on the ground just outside. A boy, 5 or 6 years old, was among the dead.
Authorities said one of three suspected smugglers was arrested Wednesday in the Houston area, approximately 115 miles northeast of Victoria. The man, Tyrone Williams of Schenectady, N.Y., was not immediately charged.
The trailer had New York plates and it is registered in Williams' name, Shelby said. Authorities were still looking for two more suspects, whose names were not released.
The smugglers apparently unhitched the trailer at the truck stop near Victoria, around 175 miles from the Mexican border, and drove off. Insulation around several small holes in the back door was scraped away, suggesting the immigrants had tried to get out.
Someone inside also placed a phone call to authorities pleading for help. The 911 call to police in Kingsville, 100 miles south of Victoria, came in just before midnight Tuesday from a Spanish speaker on a cellular phone with lots of yelling and background noise.
Police Chief Sam Granato said the dispatcher passed the call to someone who spoke Spanish, but the call was cut off, and the number couldn't be traced. But after listening to a digital recording, Granato said police were able to hear the man saying thatpeople were asphyxiating.
