Two migrants found dead inside freight train car, at least 10 more hospitalized

Two migrants died inside a freight train traveling near the U.S.-Mexico border and at least 10 others were hospitalized, police said.

Border Patrol learned of an anonymous 911 call on Friday, alerting authorities to an unknown number of “undocumented immigrants ‘suffocating’ inside of a train car,” according to a statement from the Uvalde Police Department.

Agents stopped the train, which was operating on Union Pacific tracks, near the town of Knippa, northeast of Uvalde, police said. They discovered at least 15 people in two different cars on the train traveling east from Eagle Pass bound toward San Antonio.

Twelve victims were found in an intermodal container — a kind of shipping container made for freight transport. Two of them died, four were airlifted to San Antonio, and another six were taken to local hospitals, Union Pacific said in a statement.

The condition of all of those hospitalized was unclear. University Health in San Antonio tweeted that it had received two male patients, one in critical condition and one in serious condition.

Another three migrants were discovered inside a hopper car.

Union Pacific said it was “deeply saddened by this incident and the tragedies occurring at the border.”

“We take the safety of all individuals seriously and work tirelessly with law enforcement partners to detect illegal items and people riding inside or on our rail cars,” the railway said.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas suggested the deadly incident stemmed from human trafficking and vowed to hold those responsible accountable.

“We are heartbroken to learn of yet another tragic incident of migrants taking the dangerous journey,” Mayorkas said on Twitter. “Smugglers are callous and only care about making a profit.”

While a cause of death was not released for either of the fatalities, temperatures in the region climbed to nearly 90 degrees on Friday. That means the heat levels inside the shipping containers were likely much higher.

Migrants over the years have taken increasingly risky measures to enter the United States undetected. In 2022, 748 people died at the border, according to the Department of Homeland Security. It marked the deadliest year so far for migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.

With News Wire Services