11 indicted in smuggling deaths of 7 migrants in rail cargo container in Texas

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — A U.S. attorney announced a federal indictment on Friday against 11 people in the smuggling deaths of seven migrants who were hiding inside a sweltering rail cargo container in Texas in May.

Six people were found dead inside the shipping container in a rail yard in Laredo, Texas, and another had been left for dead alongside the tracks by the smugglers when they opened the container in San Antonio, according to the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Texas, Justin R. Simmons. The train is believed to have started in the Texas border city of Del Rio.

“It’s very hard to survive in an un-air conditioned, sealed container with … the temperature being what it was on that day,” Simmons said.

The migrants were from Honduras and Mexico and included a 14-year-old boy, authorities said. Six of the bodies were discovered by a Union Pacific employee. The Webb County medical examiner suspected the deaths were caused by hyperthermia, or heat stroke.

The migrants paid “generally the equivalent of $1,500 -$10,000 to individuals in Honduras, Mexico, the United States, and elsewhere, to be transported into the interior of the United States,” according to the indictment.

Smuggling on trains has long been a concern partly because trains headed to the United States often slow or stop in Mexico before crossing the border. That creates an opportunity for smugglers or immigrants to climb aboard or hide drugs or other contraband on a train before it enters the U.S.