Two trapped migrants die on board Texas goods train

Fifteen were taken to hospital after Border Patrol officers stopped the locomotive in hot conditions

Police officers gather near a railway line in Uvalde, Texas, where a group of migrants was discovered on board a freight train. Reuters

Two migrants suffocated on board a freight train and 15 others in need of medical assistance were taken to hospital on Friday in south Texas, police said.

An anonymous emergency telephone call on Friday led the US Border Patrol to stop the train east of Knippa, a small community near the city of San Antonio.

“Approximately 15 migrants were discovered to be in need of immediate medical attention, five of the immigrants were flown out to San Antonio area hospitals, five were transported to area hospitals, and their conditions are unknown,” the Uvalde Police Department said.

“Two of the immigrants were pronounced deceased.”

Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin confirmed that two people had died, according to ABC News, but put the total number of people trapped in the container at 17.

Twelve were sent to hospitals, while three were “OK”, Mr McLaughlin said.

Union Pacific, a freight-hauling railway company, “will lead the investigation”, police said.

Temperatures near where the train was stopped reached 30°C in the late afternoon, according to local news channel KSAT in San Antonio.

“We are heart-broken to learn of yet another tragic incident of migrants taking the dangerous journey,” US Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas said on Twitter.

“We will work with the Uvalde County Sheriff's Office to hold those responsible [to account]. Smugglers are callous and only care about making a profit,” he said.

Uvalde, where police received the 911 emergency call at 3.50pm, made global headlines 10 months ago after a gunman killed 19 students and two teachers at an elementary school before he was shot dead.

It was the third-deadliest school shooting in US history after one in 2007 at Virginia Tech and another in 2012 at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut.