Heat Stroke Suspected in 6 Texas Boxcar Deaths

Federal agents are investigating the deaths of six people thought to be immigrants found inside a shipping container at a Union Pacific rail yard near the border with Mexico in Laredo, Texas, on Sunday as a "potential human smuggling event." A Union Pacific employee found the bodies of six people inside a shipping container Sunday afternoon, said Jose Baeza, the Laredo Police Department public information officer. Dr. Corinne Stern, the Webb County medical examiner, is conducting autopsies and has completed one for a 29-year-old Mexican woman who died of hyperthermia, or heat stroke, the AP reports.

• "I've ruled that an accidental death," she said, adding that she believes the others also died from heat stroke but could not rule on their cause of death until she completes their autopsies.

• Stern estimates it took up to eight hours for the people to succumb to illness. "Based on my examination on the scene and what I know of from the investigation, I really believe they were dead in less than eight hours," Stern said.
• Stern found identification cards and cellphones that indicate the deceased may be from Mexico and Honduras, but fingerprints were taken and shared with US Border Patrol to help confirm their identities and nationalities through the Missing Alien Program. The medical examiner's office also contacted the Mexican consulate after identifying the woman.
• "This was a horrific scene," Stern said, also noting that immigrant deaths are a common occurrence in the 10-county region her office covers. "This spring has been busier than it was this time last year," the medical examiner said, referencing the number of migrant deaths recorded by her office last year.
• Homeland Security Investigations said in a statement that it is "actively investigating this case as a potential human smuggling event with assistance from the Laredo Police Department and Texas Rangers."
• The travel history of the shipping container was not known, and the criminal investigation has not yet determined why the people who died did not climb out of the shipping container. "Union Pacific is saddened by this incident and is working closely with law enforcement to investigate," the rail company said in a statement.
• Laredo is a busy land port of entry for trade on the US-Mexico border and a common nexus for the illegal movement of people.