18 Dead at Truck Stop in Texas - Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community

RAMONES!!! · 05-14-2003, 01:24 PM

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...2003May14.html

VICTORIA, Texas - Sheriff's deputies found 18 bodies early Wednesday in and around a trailer at a South Texas truck stop, and they were trying to find other people, possibly illegal immigrants, who fled the scene, officials said.

Victoria County Sheriff's deputies found the bodies about 2 a.m. when they answered a reported disturbance inside a trailer at the truck stop near Victoria, said Stuart Posey, a sheriff's investigator.

"Right now we have 18 bodies," said Justice of the Peace Jack Milam. The majority of the victims were inside the trailer, he said. Some of the survivors fled into the surrounding fields.

Carol Bludau, chief of staff for the Victoria County Sheriff's office, said investigators suspected the victims were illegal immigrants.

It wasn't immediately clear how many people had been in the trailer or how long they had been there, Posey said. Victoria radio station KTXN reported that about 50 people had been inside and that 12 were taken to hospitals Wednesday, including two in intensive care.

The truck driver had unhitched the cab and left the trailer behind.

There have been several cases of illegal immigrants dying in sealed containers as they are being brought secretly into the country.

In October, workers at a grain elevator in Denison, Iowa, discovered the badly decomposed bodies of 11 migrants in a grain car that was being prepared for loading. Authorities estimated the four women and seven men had been trapped inside the grain car for at least four months and had died of dehydration and hyperthermia, or overheating.

Authorities who pulled over a truck near Dallas in July found two dead undocumented immigrants among at least 28 others who had been crammed into the back of a sweltering, unventilated tractor-trailer truck during a 600-mile trip from El Paso to Dallas.

In 1987, Border Patrol agents found 18 Mexican immigrants dead and one barely alive in a boxcar left on a rail siding in Sierra Blanca, Texas. The survivor told authorities the man who smuggled them across the border put them aboard a boxcar in El Paso and locked the door.

Federal immigration agents were headed to the trailer found Wednesday near Victoria, Posey said. The truck stop is along Highway 77, about 230 miles from the Mexican border.

Slims · 05-14-2003, 11:07 PM

yeah, I heard about that on the news. It's unfortunate. Apparently this sort of thing happens more often than we realize.

You would think that we would do something to put an end to it by either clamping down on illegal immigration, or further opening our boarders.

World's King · 05-15-2003, 02:03 AM

That is really rather odd.

I'm not sure what to say about this.

JadziaDax · 05-15-2003, 02:29 AM

Yes, the loss of life is unfortunate.

Now, this is the unfortunate part: Those illegal aliens who survived but suffered from heat stroke are in US hospitals being treated by US physicians and probably wont be able to pay the bill when it comes due. So this will put more of a burden on the US tax payer - The hospital bills need to be paid somehow, right?

Another thought this brought up has to do with terrorists. It just proved how easy it would be for any terrorist group to smuggle people into the US. This should be a wake up call for boarder patrol. But you know it wont be.

KillerYoda · 05-15-2003, 02:46 AM

That's near where I live. I should have driven by with a sign that said "Hi Mom" so I could have been on CNN.

Another missed opportunity.

Bill O'Rights · 05-15-2003, 06:51 AM

Last summer in Dennison Iowa (not far from Omaha) the decomposed skeletal remains of nine illegal immigrants was found in a grain car at a railyard. These people were closed inside of a railcar that funnels to a three foot square at the bottom. That car was traced from Mexico to Texas to Oklahoma (where it sat in storage for three months) to Iowa. These people baked to death in heat exceeding 175 degrees, with no way out as these railcars are not designed to be opened from the inside. I'm sure there are worse ways to die, but I'll be damned if I can think of one right now.

Liquor Dealer · 05-15-2003, 07:32 AM

This is what makes this really bad inder the circumstance:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,86940,00.html

VICTORIA, Texas — Locked inside the back of a sweltering, airless semitrailer, a large group of illegal immigrants tried desperately to save themselves.

One dialed 911 on a cell phone and pleaded for help in Spanish. But by the time a South Texas police dispatcher found someone to translate, the call had been lost.
-----------------------------------------------------------

Excuse Me! This was not Chicago or Birmingham - this was Victoria, Texas and they needed a translator! 80% of the people of Victoria speak Spanish to some extent - And no one at the police department did!!! This is bullshit.

troit · 05-15-2003, 08:21 AM

LD -- now that's a spin to the story that I'm sure that Texas police force did not want leaked out. Simply incredible!

Prophecy · 05-15-2003, 08:47 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Liquor Dealer
Excuse Me! This was not Chicago or Birmingham - this was Victoria, Texas and they needed a translator! 80% of the people of Victoria speak Spanish to some extent - And no one at the police department did!!! This is bullshit.

yet another story of a police department and its incompetence. I'm not surprised....
Then again in some cases like this the person that answers the phone doesn't really try hard to find a spanish translator and just snub it off...

Liquor Dealer · 05-15-2003, 09:20 AM

In Victoria there was absolutely no excuse for anyone to answer the phone that doesn't speak Spanish.

Prophecy · 05-15-2003, 09:25 AM

excuse...no
reason...maybe??

05-14-2003, 01:24 PM	#1 (permalink)
RAMONES!!! _-_---_-_	18 Dead at Truck Stop in Texas http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...2003May14.html VICTORIA, Texas - Sheriff's deputies found 18 bodies early Wednesday in and around a trailer at a South Texas truck stop, and they were trying to find other people, possibly illegal immigrants, who fled the scene, officials said. Victoria County Sheriff's deputies found the bodies about 2 a.m. when they answered a reported disturbance inside a trailer at the truck stop near Victoria, said Stuart Posey, a sheriff's investigator. "Right now we have 18 bodies," said Justice of the Peace Jack Milam. The majority of the victims were inside the trailer, he said. Some of the survivors fled into the surrounding fields. Carol Bludau, chief of staff for the Victoria County Sheriff's office, said investigators suspected the victims were illegal immigrants. It wasn't immediately clear how many people had been in the trailer or how long they had been there, Posey said. Victoria radio station KTXN reported that about 50 people had been inside and that 12 were taken to hospitals Wednesday, including two in intensive care. The truck driver had unhitched the cab and left the trailer behind. There have been several cases of illegal immigrants dying in sealed containers as they are being brought secretly into the country. In October, workers at a grain elevator in Denison, Iowa, discovered the badly decomposed bodies of 11 migrants in a grain car that was being prepared for loading. Authorities estimated the four women and seven men had been trapped inside the grain car for at least four months and had died of dehydration and hyperthermia, or overheating. Authorities who pulled over a truck near Dallas in July found two dead undocumented immigrants among at least 28 others who had been crammed into the back of a sweltering, unventilated tractor-trailer truck during a 600-mile trip from El Paso to Dallas. In 1987, Border Patrol agents found 18 Mexican immigrants dead and one barely alive in a boxcar left on a rail siding in Sierra Blanca, Texas. The survivor told authorities the man who smuggled them across the border put them aboard a boxcar in El Paso and locked the door. Federal immigration agents were headed to the trailer found Wednesday near Victoria, Posey said. The truck stop is along Highway 77, about 230 miles from the Mexican border. __________________ Come on

05-14-2003, 11:07 PM	#2 (permalink)
Slims Eccentric insomniac Location: North Carolina	yeah, I heard about that on the news. It's unfortunate. Apparently this sort of thing happens more often than we realize. You would think that we would do something to put an end to it by either clamping down on illegal immigration, or further opening our boarders. __________________ "Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery." - Winston Churchill "All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act out their dream with open eyes, to make it possible." Seven Pillars of Wisdom, T.E. Lawrence

05-15-2003, 02:03 AM	#3 (permalink)
World's King Here Location: Denver City Denver	That is really rather odd. I'm not sure what to say about this. __________________ heavy is the head that wears the crown

05-15-2003, 02:46 AM	#5 (permalink)
KillerYoda The Original Emo Gangsta Location: Sixth Floor, Texas School Book Depository	That's near where I live. I should have driven by with a sign that said "Hi Mom" so I could have been on CNN. Another missed opportunity. __________________ "So you're Chekov, huh? Well, this here's McCoy. Find a Spock, we got us an away team."

05-15-2003, 06:51 AM	#6 (permalink)
Bill O'Rights will always be an Alyson Hanniganite Location: In the dust of the archives	Last summer in Dennison Iowa (not far from Omaha) the decomposed skeletal remains of nine illegal immigrants was found in a grain car at a railyard. These people were closed inside of a railcar that funnels to a three foot square at the bottom. That car was traced from Mexico to Texas to Oklahoma (where it sat in storage for three months) to Iowa. These people baked to death in heat exceeding 175 degrees, with no way out as these railcars are not designed to be opened from the inside. I'm sure there are worse ways to die, but I'll be damned if I can think of one right now. __________________ "I distrust those people who know so well what God wants them to do because I notice it always coincides with their own desires." - Susan B. Anthony "Hedonism with rules isn't hedonism at all, it's the Republican party." - JumpinJesus It is indisputable that true beauty lies within...but a nice rack sure doesn't hurt.

05-15-2003, 02:29 AM	#4 (permalink)
JadziaDax Loser Location: who the fuck cares?	Yes, the loss of life is unfortunate. Now, this is the unfortunate part: Those illegal aliens who survived but suffered from heat stroke are in US hospitals being treated by US physicians and probably wont be able to pay the bill when it comes due. So this will put more of a burden on the US tax payer - The hospital bills need to be paid somehow, right? Another thought this brought up has to do with terrorists. It just proved how easy it would be for any terrorist group to smuggle people into the US. This should be a wake up call for boarder patrol. But you know it wont be.

05-15-2003, 07:32 AM	#7 (permalink)
Liquor Dealer Super Agitator Location: Just SW of Nowhere!!! In the good old US of A	This is what makes this really bad inder the circumstance: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,86940,00.html VICTORIA, Texas — Locked inside the back of a sweltering, airless semitrailer, a large group of illegal immigrants tried desperately to save themselves. One dialed 911 on a cell phone and pleaded for help in Spanish. But by the time a South Texas police dispatcher found someone to translate, the call had been lost. ----------------------------------------------------------- Excuse Me! This was not Chicago or Birmingham - this was Victoria, Texas and they needed a translator! 80% of the people of Victoria speak Spanish to some extent - And no one at the police department did!!! This is bullshit. __________________ Life isn't always a bowl of cherries, sometimes it's more like a jar of Jalapenos --- what you say or do today might burn your ass tomorrow!!!

05-15-2003, 08:21 AM	#8 (permalink)
troit Transfer Agent Location: NYC	LD -- now that's a spin to the story that I'm sure that Texas police force did not want leaked out. Simply incredible! __________________ I've yet to dephile myself...

05-15-2003, 09:20 AM	#10 (permalink)
Liquor Dealer Super Agitator Location: Just SW of Nowhere!!! In the good old US of A	In Victoria there was absolutely no excuse for anyone to answer the phone that doesn't speak Spanish. __________________ Life isn't always a bowl of cherries, sometimes it's more like a jar of Jalapenos --- what you say or do today might burn your ass tomorrow!!!

05-15-2003, 09:25 AM	#11 (permalink)
Prophecy Oracle & Apollyon Location: Limbus Patrum	excuse...no reason...maybe?? __________________ La Disciplina È La Mia Spada, La Fede È Il Mio Schermo, Non salti Ciecamente In Incertezza, E Potete Raccogliere Le Ricompense.