Key takeaways:
- Two migrants were found dead and at least 10 hospitalized after police in South Texas received a call that they were “suffocating” in a freight train.
- 15 people were found in two different train cars, two of whom were in a shipping container.
- The identities of the deceased and the hospitalized individuals have not been released and the cause of death is still under investigation.
Uvalde, Texas – Two migrants were found dead and at least 10 were hospitalized Friday after police in South Texas received a call that they were “suffocating” in a freight train traveling near the U.S.-Mexico border.
According to a statement from Union Pacific, a total of 15 people were found in two different train cars. The two people who died were in the shipping container, the statement said. Twelve people were in an intermodal container, a kind of shipping container made for freight transport. Three people were found in a hopper car.
The train was traveling east from Eagle Pass, bound for San Antonio, when US Border Patrol stopped the train, which was operating on Union Pacific tracks, near the town of Knippa, northeast of Uvalde, police said.
In a news release Friday night, Uvalde police said they “received a 911 phone call from an unknown third-party caller advising there were numerous undocumented immigrants ‘suffocating’ inside of a train car.”
The Uvalde Police Department said Border Patrol was informed of the phone call and able to stop the train. Union Pacific railroad said in a statement that they are working with local law enforcement and the Border Patrol to investigate the incident.
The identities of the deceased and the hospitalized individuals have not been released. The cause of death is still under investigation.
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