San Antonio truck deaths: 10 people confirmed dead in 'horrific human smuggling crime'

'All were victims of ruthless human smugglers indifferent to the well-being of their fragile cargo' says a US attorney

The death toll in a suspected human smuggling case is San Antonio has risen to 10, as officials confirm two men died in the hospital after being rescued from the back of a sweltering tractor-trailer.

The man believed to be the driver of the truck, which carried up to 100 suspected illegal immigrants in Texas, is expected to be charged in relation to the deaths.

Sixty-year-old Florida native James Matthew Bradley Jr was identified by the US Attorney's office as the driver, and was arrested in connection with the incident. Federal prosecutors say he will be charged on Monday, however according to Reuters, the local US Attorney’s Office would not confirm whether Mr Bradley was the truck driver who was arrested.

Thirty people were found, with at least 20 in critical condition in a trailer parked at a Walmart store in San Antonio, where temperatures outside the vehicle reached 100 degrees and temperatures inside were thought to have been as high as 140 degrees.

It is believed that as many as 100 people were pressed together in the trailer, and four of the survivors were thought to be between the ages of 10 and 17, according to The Washington Post. Some of the people allegedly smuggled into the country had fled to the wooded area surrounding Walmart, police say.

Many were suffering from heat stroke and exhaustion, and their skin was very hot to the touch, rescuers said. Their hearts were racing, and some will have suffered irreversible brain damage. The trailer lacked any air conditioning and did not have a water supply.

“All were victims of ruthless human smugglers indifferent to the well-being of their fragile cargo,” said US Attorney Richard Durbin Jr.

“These people were helpless in the hands of their transporters. Imagine their suffering, trapped in a stifling trailer,” he added.

Authorities had been called after a dazed individual emerged from the truck and asked a Walmart employee for water. The employee called the police and informed them of the interaction. San Antonio Chief William McManus said in a press conference: “We’re looking at a human trafficking crime here."

Footage from the parking area showed a number of vehicles picking up people who had been in the trailer and survived the trip.

Describing it as a “horrific tragedy,” the Chief added: “[The discovery] is not an isolated incident. This happens quite frequently…fortunately there are people who survived, abut this happens all the time.”

Officials from Mexico and Guatemala confirmed people from those countries were found in the trailer, and San Antonio’s consul general is working closely with local and federal authorities to identify the nationalities of the victims. Two people in hospital have been identified by the Guatemalan government.

San Antonio is approximately 150 miles north of the Mexican border, and the roads have often been used to smuggle people into the country.

In May 2003 70 people, 19 of whom died, were found in a 19-wheeler in Victoria, 100 miles southeast of San Antonio.