Law enforcement officers work at the scene where people were found dead inside a trailer truck in San Antonio, Texas, US, on June 27, 2022 [Kaylee Greenlee Beal/ Reuters]

San Antonio, June 28 (RHC)-- At least 46 people have been found dead inside a tractor-trailer in San Antonio, Texas, in what appears to be a human smuggling attempt along the United States-Mexico border.

San Antonio Fire Chief Charles Hood said 16 other people found in the trailer on Monday were transported to the hospital for heat stroke and exhaustion.

“The patients we saw were hot to the touch.  They were suffering from heat stroke, heat exhaustion.  There were no signs of water in the vehicle,” he said.  And he added: “It was a refrigerated tractor-trailer, but there was no visible air conditioning unit on that rig.”

Police Chief William McManus said a city worker at the scene was alerted to the situation by a cry for help coming from the back of the truck.  Officers arrived to find a body on the ground outside the trailer and a partially opened gate to the trailer, he said.

The vehicle was found next to railroad tracks in a remote area on the city’s southern outskirts, and McManus said three people were taken into custody over the incident.

Mexico’s Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard called the suffocation of the migrants a “tragedy in Texas” said the local consulate was en route to the scene, though the nationalities of the victims had not been confirmed.

Monday’s disaster may be one of the most deadly incidents of human smuggling along the U.S.-Mexico border in recent decades.

Ten migrants died in 2017 after being trapped inside a truck that was parked at a Walmart in San Antonio, while in 2003, 19 migrants were found in a sweltering truck southeast of the city.

Temperatures in San Antonio, which is about 160 miles (250 km) from the Mexican border, reached a high of 103 degrees Fahrenheit (39.4 degrees Celsius) on Monday with high humidity.