By Jim Forsyth

SAN ANTONIO (Reuters) - At least eight men were found dead on Sunday alongside dozens of people discovered inside a sweltering tractor trailer parked at a Walmart store in San Antonio, Texas, in what authorities called a case of “ruthless” human trafficking. “Checking the video from the store, we found there were a number of vehicles that came in and picked up a lot of the folks that were in that trailer that survived the trip,” San Antonio Police Chief William McManus said. The truck’s driver was arrested and will be charged, said Richard Durbin, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Texas, and prosecutors will work to identify others responsible. “All were victims of ruthless human smugglers indifferent to the well-being of their fragile cargo.”

More than 100 undocumented immigrants may have been sandwiched in the trailer during the journey, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement acting Director Thomas Homan said, citing initial interviews with survivors. The bodies of the dead, who have not yet been identified by authorities, were discovered after officials were led to the trailer by a man who had approached a Walmart employee and asked for water. “We are in the process of reviewing that video with law enforcement but won’t be commenting on it.”

Barr also declined to identify the employee who asked police to conduct a welfare check on the truck. San Antonio fire chief Charles Hood says 20 other people were found in the trailer who are in extremely critical or serious condition
• Eight dead in trailer outside San Antonio Walmart ‘were very hot to touch’ “With heat strokes or heat injuries, a lot of them are going to have some irreversible brain damage.”

The air conditioner in the trailer was not working, officials said. The National Weather Service said the temperature in San Antonio hit 101 degrees just before 5 p.m. Saturday and didn't dip below 90 degrees until after 10 p.m. “You can see that it happens late at night under darkness because they don’t want to be discovered.”

Once the victims undergo treatment, the case will be turned over to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the police chief said. "U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations works year-round to identify, dismantle, and disrupt the transnational criminal networks that smuggle people into and throughout the United States.
Nine men are found dead inside a tractor-trailer parked outside a Walmart store in the American city of San Antonio, Texas, in what authorities call a case of "ruthless" human trafficking. Thirty people, many in critical condition and suffering from heat stroke and exhaustion, were removed from the non-air conditioned trailer which also lacked a water supply.