Over 90 people were rescued by the authorities in the state of Veracruz, narrowly escaping suffocation
FILE PHOTO. © AFP / Alfredo ESTRELLA
Around 100 migrants were rescued Wednesday from a sweltering trailer abandoned by a people smuggler in Mexico’s coastal state of Veracruz, Mexican media report.
The trailer was reportedly used to illegally transport about 400 migrants, including men, women, and children. It was abandoned next to a gas station on a highway near the small town of Acayucan, meters away from a security checkpoint where trailers are inspected.
At some point, the migrants trapped inside began to suffocate and broke through the roof of the trailer. They were aided by the gas station’s employees, local officials told journalists.
Most of the migrants escaped into the nearby mountains afterwards, but a total of 93 of them were rescued by the authorities, El Dictamen reports. Some of the migrants were found unconscious.
Paramedics say they are now being treated for dehydration and other health conditions caused by their predicament. Some of them were hospitalized with leg fractures after jumping from the trailer’s roof.
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According to Guatemala’s Foreign Ministry, 89 of the migrants were Guatemalan nationals. They are now being assisted by the country’s consulate in Acayucan.
The Veracruz authorities are saying there were also people from Honduras, El Salvador, Venezuela, India, and Haiti among the people trapped in the trailer. The rescued migrants are now being processed by immigration agents to determine their legal status.
Last month, the authorities in San Antonio, Texas found an abandoned trailer full of suffocated migrants. At least 53 of them were reported dead. A Texas man suspected to be the driver who abandoned the trailer was arrested later.
A recent study by the UN’s International Organization for Migration called the 2,000-mile (3,200km) border between the US and Mexico the “world’s deadliest land migration route.” Some 728 migrants died or disappeared there in 2021, an increase of over 50% compared to 2020.
