Tragedy at Texas border: Six bodies found inside cargo train car

Laredo (Texas): Six people were found dead inside a cargo train boxcar at a Union Pacific rail yard in the Texas border city of Laredo, authorities said.

The grim discovery was made on Sunday during a routine inspection by workers at the rail yard near the US-Mexico border.

Jose Baeza, spokesperson for the Laredo Police Department, said workers checking one of the freight cars noticed that the individuals inside “did not appear to be alive.”

Police and fire department personnel rushed to the scene soon after the alert.

Authorities later confirmed that six people — five men and one woman — were found dead inside the boxcar. Their identities have not yet been released.

Officials said autopsies would be conducted to determine the exact cause of death.

Investigators are also trying to establish the travel history of the cargo car and how the victims ended up inside it.

The incident occurred in Laredo, one of the busiest trade gateways along the US-Mexico border and a region often linked to migrant smuggling operations.

However, authorities have so far not confirmed whether the deaths were connected to human smuggling.

The case has revived memories of the 2022 tragedy in Texas, in which 53 migrants were found dead inside an overheated tractor-trailer in what remains the deadliest human smuggling attempt across the US-Mexico border.

Two smugglers linked to that case were sentenced to life imprisonment last year.