After 53 migrants were found dead after apparently being trapped in a tractor-trailor that had reached a fatally hot temperature in San Antonio Monday evening in a suspected case of human smuggling, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott confirmed Wednesday that the truck had not been inspected by Border Patrol, despite passing through a border checkpoint.
"It was not inspected because the Border Patrol does not have the resources to be able to inspect all of the trucks," Abbott said.
Abbott announced that the Texas Department of Public Safety will add additional truck checkpoints, beginning immediately. He said they will target trucks like the one involved in the migrants' deaths.
The incident unfolded in the southcentral Texas city on Monday evening at around 5:50 p.m. local time, when a nearby worker heard a cry for help and found the tractor-trailer with the doors partially opened and the bodies of 46 people inside, according to San Antonio Police Chief Bill McManus and San Antonio Fire Department Chief Charles Hood.
The trailer was refrigerated but did not have a visibly working air-conditioning unit and there were no signs of water inside, according to Hood.
The victims taken to hospitals were hot to the touch and all suffering from heat stroke and heat exhaustion, Hood said. There were no child fatalities that authorities know of so far, he added.
"They suffered, horrendously, could have been for hours," Hood said.
An additional 16 people -- 12 adults and four children -- were transported to area hospitals in what officials called a "mass casualty event."
Chris Magnus, the commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, told reporters he was "horrified" by the incident.
"Horrified at this tragic loss of life near San Antonio," Magnus said Monday. "This speaks to the desperation of migrants who would put their lives in the hands of callous human smugglers who show no regard for human life."
Of the 53 bodies in the custody of the medical examiner's office, 40 are male and 13 are female, the Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office said Wednesday
Rebeca Clay-Flores, the Bexar County Precinct 1 commissioner, said at a press conference Tuesday that some of those found are under the age of 18, likely teenagers.