Texas sheriff says 7th body could be tied to shipping container deaths, as ICE opens human smuggling probe
CBS News • • nation
Key Points:
- A man found dead Monday near railroad tracks southwest of San Antonio, Texas, is believed to be connected to six people who died of heat stroke inside a shipping container near the Mexico border.
- The seventh body was located about 150 miles north of Laredo, where the six other bodies were discovered in a Union Pacific rail yard on Sunday.
- Authorities are investigating the incident as a potential human smuggling case, with evidence showing the container had been opened, though it cannot be opened from the inside.
- Autopsies indicate the victims, believed to be from Mexico and Honduras, died of hyperthermia due to extreme heat inside the container, with temperatures reaching nearly 100 degrees in Laredo.
- Union Pacific is cooperating with law enforcement in the investigation and expressed sadness over the incident.