Texas Tragedy: At Least 46 People Trapped in Abandoned Trailer Have Died

At least 46 people have died in an oppressively hot abandoned trailer in San Antonio, Texas. Sixteen were still conscious and were taken to a nearby hospital. Four of those were children.

This is one of the most horrific tragedies Texas has known. A little after 6 p.m. on Monday night, a worker for the city of San Antonio heard a cry for help and then opened the trailer to find a truly horrifying sight, according to a report from PBS News Hour.

As the hours passed, there would be "body bags lay spread on the ground near the trailer and bodies remained inside as authorities responded to the calamity."

These people were being smuggled across the border from Mexico to the United States. Although initially it wasn't known where each of the people had come from, PBS reports that Roberto Velasco Alvarez, head of the North American department in Mexico's Foreign Relations Department tweeted that "22 are from Mexico, seven are from Guatemala and two are from Honduras."

In a press conference regarding the tragedy, the mayor of San Antonio, Ron Nirenberg, said these 46 people who died in the back of the trailer left behind “families who were likely trying to find a better life.”

“This is nothing short of a horrific human tragedy.” ~San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg

According to Fire Chief Charles Hood, PBS reports he told them "patients were hot to the touch and dehydrated, and no water was found in the trailer."

When officials arrived on the scene, three people were taken into custody, though there was no confirmation as of yet as to whether these individuals were definitely part of the human trafficking efforts.

A federal investigation headed by the Department of Homeland Security is ongoing.