No fewer than 46 people were on Monday found dead inside a truck in San Antonio, Texas, Al Jazeera reported.
It appeared to be a human smuggling attempt along the United States-Mexico border, the Qatar based media platform said.
San Antonio Fire Chief, Charles Hood, said 16 other people found in the trailer on Monday were transported to the hospital for heat stroke and exhaustion. They included four minors.
“The patients we saw were hot to the touch. They were suffering from heat stroke, heat exhaustion. There were no signs of water in the vehicle,” Al Jazeera quoted Mr Hood as saying.
“It was a refrigerated tractor-trailer, but there was no visible air conditioning unit on that rig.”
Moreover, Police Chief William McManus said a city worker at the scene was alerted to the situation by a cry for help shortly before 6 p.m. on Monday (23:00 GMT).
Officers arrived to find a body on the ground outside the trailer and a partially opened gate to the trailer, he said.
The vehicle was found next to railway tracks in a remote area on the city’s southern outskirts.
