Texas: 8 dead, about 30 injured found in hot semitrailer in 'human-trafficking' incident

abcnews.com - Eight people were found dead and close to 30 others injured inside a brutally-hot semitrailer parked in a Walmart parking lot in San Antonio, Texas.

Police described the incident as an apparent "human trafficking crime."

Authorities became aware of the truck overnight after a Walmart employee, who had been approached by someone who had been in the truck asking for water, notified police of the interaction, San Antonio Police Chief William McManus said this morning at a press conference, alongside other officials from the city.

Inside the semitrailer, authorities found eight dead bodies, as well as 20 other people who were in "extremely critical condition or very serious condition," and eight others suffering lesser injuries like heat stroke and dehydration, San Antonio Fire Chief Charles Hood told the press this morning.

There were 38 people inside the truck in total, McManus said, and Hood added that at least two of them were "school-age" children.

The truck had no working air-conditioning system, and temperatures topped 100 degrees Fahrenheit, Hood said. McManus added that the truck's pass lacked access to water.

"They were very hot to the touch," Hood said of the people found inside.

The driver of the truck was arrested and could face federal and state charges, according to police. The driver's name was not given at this morning's press conference.

"We're looking at a human-trafficking crime here," McManus said.

Meanwhile, surveillance video from the store showed that a number of vehicles entered the parking lot and "picked up lots of folks that were in that trailer that survived the trip," McManus said.

Some of the people who had been in the truck also ran into the woods, he said. The area was searched, and another attempt will be made in the morning, the officials said.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security Immigration and Customs Enforcement has also been called in to help investigate the incident, officials said.

San Antonio Fire Chief Charles Hood, who stood alongside McManus at the press conference, said firefighters arrived on the scene at 12:26 a.m. local time, and began pulling the people out of the truck. The injured were taken to different hospitals, some by helicopter, he said.

Authorities said they still don't know the origin of the truck, or how long it had been parked at the Walmart, and that the search for such details are part of an active investigation currently underway.

The officials said more details about the victims, including their genders and ages, would be released in a future briefing.

While he called it a "horrific tragedy," the police chief said the discovery "is not an isolated incident. This happens quite frequently ... fortunately there are people who survived, but this happens all the time,” he said. (ontinueReading