The Vice Minister of Consular and Immigration Affairs, Jatzel Román, reported this Saturday that so far no Dominican has been identified among migrants found inside a tractor-trailer in San Antonio, Texas.
“We report that so far no person of Dominican nationality has been identified between the 53 tragically deceased on Monday in a van found in the American state of Texas,” Román said through a post on his Twitter account.
The official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs recalled in his tweet that 2 weeks ago they were found, among other migrants, four Dominicans in a van detained in Chiapas, Mexico. The people in that trailer were all alive.
Las 53 fatalities of the tragedy in Texas died after being exposed to high temperatures and crowded inside the vehicle on their way to the United States. About 73 people were in the truck, and the suspected truck driver, identified as Homero Zamorano Jr., posed as a victim when authorities arrived.
The Associated Press reported yesterday that it remains unclear how long the migrants were in the truck and whether the fact that smugglers took their cellphones before they entered the vehicle contributed to the extremely high death toll. In this case, there is no record of emergency calls from trapped migrants, something that yes it has happened in previous incidents.
Among the deceased, Mexicans, Guatemalans and Hondurans, among others, have been confirmed.