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<p>SAN ANTONIO (AP) &#8212; Authorities called to a Walmart parking lot found eight people dead and 20 others in dire condition in the back of a sweltering tractor-trailer, victims of what police said Sunday was an immigrant-smuggling operation gone wrong.</p><p>The driver was arrested, officials said.</p><p>It was just the latest smuggling-by-truck attempt to end in tragedy. In one of the deadliest cases on record in the U.S., 19 immigrants locked inside a stifling rig died in Victoria, Texas, in 2003.</p><p>This time, 30 survivors were taken to the hospital, where 20 were in extremely critical or serious condition, many suffering from extreme dehydration and heatstroke. Others had lesser injuries.</p><p>&#8220;They were very hot to the touch. So these people were in this trailer without any signs of any type of water,&#8221; San Antonio Fire Chief Charles Hood said.</p><p>Authorities said they were investigating where the immigrants were from.</p><p>They did not say whether the rig was locked when they arrived, whether it was used to smuggle the occupants across the border into the U.S., or where it might have been headed. San Antonio is about a 150-mile (240-kilometer) drive from the Mexican border.</p><p>&#8220;We&#8217;re looking at a human-trafficking crime,&#8221; Police Chief William McManus said, adding that many of those inside the 18-wheeler appeared to be in their 20s and 30s but that there were also what appeared to be two school-age children.</p><p>He called it &#8220;a horrific tragedy.&#8221;</p><p>The temperature in San Antonio reached 101 degrees (38 Celsius) on Saturday and didn&#8217;t dip below 90 (32 C) until after 10 p.m. The trailer didn&#8217;t have a working air conditioning system, Hood said.</p><p>The tragedy came to light after a person from the truck approached a Walmart employee in the parking lot and asked for water late Saturday night or early Sunday morning, McManus said.</p><p>The employee gave the person water and then called police, who found the dead and desperate inside the rig.</p><p>The driver&#8217;s name was not immediately released.</p><p>Some of those in the truck ran into the woods, leading to a search, McManus said. Hours after the living and the dead were taken away, a helicopter hovered over the area after daybreak, and investigators were still gathering evidence from the tractor-trailer, which had an Iowa license plate but few other markings.</p><p>The police department said the U.S. Homeland Security Department was taking the lead in the investigation.</p><p>Investigators checked store surveillance video, which showed vehicles arriving and picking up people from the truck, parked in the midsummer Texas heat, authorities said.</p><p>&#8220;By any standard, the horrific crime uncovered last night ranks as a stark reminder of why human smuggling networks must be pursued, caught and punished,&#8221; Thomas Homan, acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said in a statement.</p><p>In the May 2003 case, the immigrants were being taken from South Texas to Houston. Prosecutors said the driver heard them begging and screaming for their lives but refused to free them. The driver was sentenced to nearly 34 years in prison.</p><p>The Border Patrol has reported at least four truck seizures this month in and around Laredo, Texas. On July 7, agents found 72 people crammed into a truck with no means of escape, the agency said. They were from Mexico, Ecuador, Guatemala and El Salvador.</p><p>Authorities in Mexico have also made a number of such discoveries over the years.</p><p>Last December, they found 110 migrants trapped and suffocating inside a truck after it crashed while speeding in the state of Veracruz. Most were from Central America, and 48 were minors. Some were injured in the crash.</p><p>Last October, also in Veracruz state, four migrants suffocated in a truck carrying 55 people.</p><p>___</p><p>Associated Press writers Mike Graczyk in Houston and Peter Orsi in Mexico City contributed to this report.</p><p>___</p><p>Sign up for the AP&#8217;s weekly newsletter showcasing our best reporting from the Midwest and Texas at &#8212;http://apne.ws/2u1RMfv.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">San Antonio police officers investigate the scene Sunday, July 23, 2017, where eight people were found dead in a tractor-trailer loaded with at least 30 others outside a Walmart store in stifling summer heat in what police are calling a horrific human trafficking case, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Eric Gay) </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/web1_117669643-077488a26a86403d8d63ae1fd6df00c5.jpg</photo0><caption0>San Antonio police officers investigate the scene Sunday, July 23, 2017, where eight people were found dead in a tractor-trailer loaded with at least 30 others outside a Walmart store in stifling summer heat in what police are calling a horrific human trafficking case, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Eric Gay) </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/web1_117669643-4d621517c65e4616a01b7ad606b45ed0.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">San Antonio police officers investigate the scene where eight people were found dead in a tractor-trailer loaded with at least 30 others outside a Walmart store in stifling summer heat in what police are calling a horrific human trafficking case, Sunday, July 23, 2017, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Eric Gay) </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/web1_117669643-4d621517c65e4616a01b7ad606b45ed0.jpg</photo1><caption1>San Antonio police officers investigate the scene where eight people were found dead in a tractor-trailer loaded with at least 30 others outside a Walmart store in stifling summer heat in what police are calling a horrific human trafficking case, Sunday, July 23, 2017, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Eric Gay) </caption1><photoCredit1></photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/web1_117669643-740f9e4346de4ea48cf095a7aecf0494.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">A hearse sits in the parking lot of a Walmart store where eight people were found dead in a tractor-trailer loaded with at least 30 others outside in stifling summer heat in what police are calling a horrific human trafficking case, Sunday, July 23, 2017, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Eric Gay) </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/web1_117669643-740f9e4346de4ea48cf095a7aecf0494.jpg</photo2><caption2>A hearse sits in the parking lot of a Walmart store where eight people were found dead in a tractor-trailer loaded with at least 30 others outside in stifling summer heat in what police are calling a horrific human trafficking case, Sunday, July 23, 2017, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Eric Gay) </caption2><photoCredit2></photoCredit2></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Eric Gay and Will Weissert</p><p>Associated Press</p></bylineMeta></div>

8 found dead in sweltering truck in immigrant smuggling case