War, climate change, and politics have forced hundreds of migrants to flee their countries. The deaths of 46 immigrants in Texas is a grim reminder of the plight of the world’s homeless
Onlookers stand near the scene where a semitrailer with multiple dead bodies was discovered. AP
Migrants from all across the world are often forced to cross borders illegally in search of better opportunities or in the event of ending up as refugees in their own country. As governments fail to address the global migrant crisis, the poor and homeless are left with no option but to turn to smugglers to enter a foreign land. Illegal entry via smugglers often leads to deaths and injuries.
Since 2000, at least 300 immigrants have died because of suffocation while being ferried under inhuman conditions. The tragedy in Texas, which claimed 46 lives, is a reminder of how grave the crisis is.
Bodies of 46 dead migrants were found inside a tractor-trailer in Texas, United States. The San Antonio fire department was quoted in a Reuters report as saying that they found a “stack of bodies and no sign of water in the truck”. The truck was parked next to railroad tracks in a remote area. Sixteen others, who survived the sweltering weather in the trailer, were rushed to the hospital for heat stroke and exhaustion. Among the survivors were four children.
San Antonio Fire Chief Charles Hood said, “The patients that we saw were hot to touch, they were suffering from heat stroke, exhaustion.”
The US immigration and customs enforcement said that investigations are being conducted to look for “an alleged human smuggling event”.
Thirty-nine immigrants from Vietnam died of suffocation in an airtight container, as they were transported from Belgium to Purfleet in Essex under unbearable temperatures for almost 12 hours. Among the victims, 10 were teenagers.
Also read: In Pics| 46 migrants found dead in abandoned trailer is the US state of Texas
According to a report by The Guardian, the immigrants were carried in a refrigerator unit. However, the air-conditioning system was not turned up as temperatures rose up to 38.5 degrees C during the travel. It is said that the smugglers loaded too many people in the unit deliberately and were aware of the dangers that could pose as a result of oxygen shortage.
Investigations revealed that there was no phone reception inside the container but unsent messages point to the group’s apprehension of death due to suffocation.
All the people involved in the business of smuggling have been convicted.
Eight immigrants, who were crammed up with 90 others, died in a trailer truck found in a Walmart parking lot. Survivors recollected passengers crying and pleading for water. They further said that people took turns to breathe through a hole in the trailer’s wall. In a cry for help, some even pounded on the sides of the truck to get the driver’s attention.
These immigrants were being transported from Texas’ border town of Laredo to San Antonio. Reports say that many of the survivors, who were immediately rushed to the hospital, suffered from extreme dehydration and heatstroke.
The driver was sentenced to life a year later in 2018.
Thirteen African migrants suffocated to death inside a shipping container while being transported for over four days between two Libyan towns. The head of the humanitarian body Red Crescent in Libya said in a report that the victims were among 69 other migrants, mainly from Mali.
Many survivors had suffered injuries including broken limbs as they were thrown out of the container. Two of the victims were children aged 13 and 14, said Red Crescent.
The Austrian police discovered an abandoned truck found in a motorway that contained decomposed bodies of 71 migrants. Out of the 71 victims, 59 were men, eight women and four children including a baby girl.
The lorry was carrying the migrants from Budapest to the Hungarian-Austrian border. According to a Guardian report, the truck belonged to a Slovak chicken company called “Hyza”.
The Hungarian police arrested the driver of the truck in the same year.
Fifty-four Myanmar immigrants suffocated in a cramped-up seafood container, as they were being transported to Thailand. The driver abandoned the truck on a road near the Andaman Sea coastline.
As per reports in Reuters, police said that the air-conditioning system wasn’t working and many pounded on the doors to alert the driver.
In the same incident, another 67 immigrants were rescued, many of whom were rushed to the hospital soon after police discovered the truck.
Nineteen migrants were found dead in a milk trailer that was abandoned at a truck stop near Victoria in Texas. The truck was carrying 55 immigrants from south Texas to Houston.
Fifty-eight Chinese immigrants were found dead in a lorry that was discovered at the English port town of Dover. The migrants first flew from Beijing to Belgrade and from there they were escorted in small groups and taken through Austria into France in the back of vans. This is where the migrants were handed over to the European side of the network of smugglers.
According to a report by The Guardian, the Chinese were given four buckets of water to drink during their travel. The driver had sealed the air vent to conceal the human cargo from the police’s eye.
The perpetrator was sentenced to 14 years in jail in 2001.
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