The driver of a truck found abandoned in Texas with dozens of victims inside has been charged with human smuggling that resulted in death.
In San Antonio, authorities discovered Homero Zamorano posing as a migrant in a bush near the truck and arrested him.
The catastrophe claimed the lives of 53 passengers, the most of whom succumbed to heatstroke and dehydration after being sealed inside the vehicle in searing heat without water.
It is the bloodiest episode of human trafficking in U.S. history.
Mr. Zamorano, a native of Texas, “attempted to pass himself off as one of the survivors” when he was discovered by authorities, according to a senior immigration officer in Mexico.
Christian Martinez, the second suspect, was detained on allegations of conspiracy. Federal prosecutors claim that investigators located him after examining Mr. Zamorano’s phone and determining that the two had been communicating.
The US Department of Justice announced that if convicted, the two individuals could face a maximum term of life in prison or the death penalty.
Two further individuals with ties to the truck’s registration address have been arrested for firearm violations.
Monday evening, when emergency personnel arrived at an isolated road near San Antonio, they discovered 46 dead victims inside and around an abandoned truck with its doors wide open.
No one inside the truck, which was only discovered after a neighboring worker heard pleas for aid, was conscious when emergency personnel arrived. According to official radio transmissions from the incident, only about a dozen of the individuals discovered inside the vehicle appeared to be breathing.
The death toll increased to 53 as several hospitalized patients died.
On Wednesday, local Texans gathered at the scene of the tragedy, around 250 kilometers (160 miles) north of the US-Mexico border, to pay their respects.
Veronica Vazquez told the AFP news agency, “All of this tears my heart because members of my family have endured similar circumstances.
Roberto Alvarez, a local who immigrated to the United States as an undocumented immigrant, brought flowers and candles to honor the deaths.
“You put yourself in their shoes a little bit,” he continued, “since you too went through it.”
Water bottles were also left at the scene, even though police had previously stated that the truck lacked water and air conditioning.
More than half of the identified deaths, or around 27 individuals, were from Mexico. Additional fatalities included 14 Hondurans, seven Guatemalans, and two El Salvadorans, according to the Mexican government.
A pair of 13- and 14-year-old Guatemalan boys were among those killed in the accident, Guatemalan officials reported on Wednesday.
According to Guatemalan media, Pascual Melvin Guachiac and Juan Wilmer Tulul are cousins who fled their homes two weeks ago to avoid poverty. Pascual’s mother was quoted as saying this.
On Monday, just hours before the abandoned truck was discovered, the adolescents informed their families that they were heading to San Antonio.
According to Mexican immigration officials, the migrants crossed the border in smaller groups before convening at a secret safe house in the United States, where they would have been squeezed onto the truck for the next leg of their journey.
The officials stated that those inside the truck were sprayed with a smelly chemical as part of a tactic employed by certain smugglers to hide the scent of humans and evade detection by canine patrols.
