Umamah Bakharia | ub@radioislam.co.za

2 min read
7 March 2023 | 16:15 CAT

Mexican authorities say they have discovered 343 migrants and refugees, including 103 unaccompanied children in an abandoned truck container on the side of a highway.

Mexican migrants trying to reach the United States border.
Picture credit: NBC News

In a statement, the National Immigration Institute (INM) says the trailer was found in the Gulf coast state of Veracruz, adding that it was unclear why the driver fled.

The route is quite often used by smugglers who are paid to transport people feeling from their countries from southeastern Mexico to the United States border.

Authorities have reported that the people were in good health with the institute saying most of the adults were mainly from Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Ecuador.

The INM added that children will be put into the custody of Veracruz’s family services system while the others will be processed to determine their legal status in Mexico.

Mexican authorities found 103 unaccompanied minors in a trailer in Veracruz state along with 212 adults from Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Ecuador. Another 28 migrants traveling as families from Guatemala and El Salvador were also in the trailer https://t.co/LDzuS7zD3l pic.twitter.com/4gQHtAPEVd

— Reuters (@Reuters) March 7, 2023

Trucks are one of the most dangerous sources that are used by people smugglers to transport undocumented migrants through Mexico to the US.

In June 2022, more than 50 people died after they were abandoned in a scorching hot tractor-trailer truck in San Antonio, Texas.

In December 2021, 56 US-bound people from Central America were killed with dozens injured when the truck they were travelling in overturned in southern Mexico.