Who are Texas tractor-trailer victims? CHILLING details reveal truck was covered with SPICES to mask odor
SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS: Two young sisters from Guatemala have been identified as two of the victims of the Texas migrant tragedy in which 51 people died in an apparent human smuggling incident. At least 46 migrants were found dead on Monday, June 27, inside a tractor-trailer on a Texas roadway. The bodies were found inside the 18-wheeler on Quintana Road in San Antonio. As many as 16 survivors were initially rushed to area hospitals in various conditions, but some of them later died. The death toll has now risen to 51.
Authorities have identified at least 27 Mexicans, seven Guatemalans, and two Hondurans so far, according to Mexico’s Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard and Consul of Mexico Ruben Minutti-Zanatta. The nationalities of the other victims have not been identified yet. Among the dead migrants are 39 men and 21 women, officials confirmed. The sisters, Carla and Griselda Carac Tambriz — originally from the Colcajá canton, Nahualá, Sololá in Guatemala — died in the truck which was carrying an estimated 100 people across the Mexican border into the US, Guatemalan, and Spanish-language news outlets have reported.
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The truck driver, who initially fled, was apprehended by authorities in a nearby field. He has been taken into federal custody. Two other suspects have been arrested, and authorities said one of them is an American citizen. First responders said that they approached the vehicle and found “stacks of bodies” that were allegedly sprinkled with steak seasoning to hide the odor of decaying dead bodies of the migrants.
In an effort to make the vehicle look like a properly registered truck, it was "cloned", according to the owner of a local Alamo-based trucking company. He said that the truck was painted to match one of his own, and his legal vehicle’s Department of Transportation registration number was also copied. “Our reefer [refrigerated trailer] is sitting right in the yard,” said Felipe Betancourt Jr, who owns Betancourt Trucking with his father. “That one in San Antonio is not our trailer.”
Foreign Minister Ebrard said he was in communication with the Department of Homeland Security and also Guatemala’s Foreign Minister Mario Búcaro. “We will act together in support of victims and families affected by the tragedy in San Antonio, Texas,” Ebrard tweeted in Spanish.
En comunicación con Mario Búcaro, Ministro de Exteriores de Guatemala. Actuaremos juntos en apoyo a víctimas y familias afectadas en la tragedia de San Antonio, Texas. Compartimos profundo pesar por lo ocurrido. Investigaciones en curso para dar con los responsables.
— Marcelo Ebrard C. (@m_ebrard) June 28, 2022
A number of survivors of the attack are now battling for their lives in six local hospitals. They were rescued from the 18-wheeler which reportedly did not have air conditioning or refrigeration. On Monday, temperatures in San Antonio reached a high of 103 degrees. According to first responders, the people were suffering from heat stroke. Three of the 16 people who initially survived, later died in various hospitals.
Three people were rushed to Methodist Metropolitan. One of them, a woman, died there. Two of the five people rushed to Baptist Medical Center died. Two Mexican citizens, including a 26-year-old woman, are in critical condition. They are being treated at Texas Vista Medical Center. Four other patients are being treated at Santa Rosa Westover Hill, and one of them is in critical condition. Two more patients are admitted to University Hospital. Sebastiana, 16, from Guatemala, is the youngest known survivor and is being treated at Children’s Hospital.