At least nine dead in suspected smuggling case in Texas

SAN ANTONIO - Police discovered a sweltering tractor-trailer packed with dozens of people outside a Wal-Mart early Sunday - eight were dead already; one more would die soon; and many more are expected to have brain damage from severe heat.

'They discovered an alien smuggling venture gone horribly wrong,” Richard L. Durbin, the U.S. attorney for the Western District of Texas, wrote in a statement released by federal immigration authorities Sunday morning.

'All were victims of ruthless human smugglers indifferent to the well-being of their fragile cargo,” he added.

Police Chief William McManus did not go quite so far when he spoke to reporters. But he said his homicide detectives would work with federal immigration authorities to determine 'the origin of this horrific tragedy.”

The truck had no working air conditioning or signs of water as it sat in the Wal-Mart parking lot off Interstate 35 in San Antonio, about 2½ hours from the border with Mexico, authorities said.

Surveillance footage recorded vehicles pulling up to the truck Saturday night, taking people from the trailer and driving away, McManus said.

But at least 39 people remained locked inside, Fire Chief Charles Hood told reporters, their hearts beating rapidly and their temperatures spiking - unless they had already died.

At some point, one of the passengers got out and asked a Wal-Mart employee for water.

The employee 'came back with the water, called the police, and we found eight dead in the back of that trailer,” McManus said.

The driver was taken into custody. Federal officials plan to file a criminal complaint against James M. Bradley Jr., 60.

Some of the survivors ran into the surrounding trees, according to police, evading helicopters and foot patrols in the darkness.

But many more remained in the truck, in dire need of help.

'They were very hot to the touch,” Hood said. 'Each one of them had heart rates over about 130 beats per minute.”

They had been transported inside 'a refrigeration truck with no refrigeration,” he told CNN. 'If they were to spend another night in that environment, you'd have 38 people who would not have survived.”

As it was, Hood said, 30 were hospitalized - 17 in critical condition. Of those who suffered heatstrokes, 'a lot of them are going to have some irreversible brain damage,” he said.

At least two in the truck were school-age children, he said.

The tractor-trailer was towed away later in the morning. It advertised a Schaller, Iowa, company - Pyle Transportation - on the side.

Brian Pyle identified himself as the owner of the company but told the Washington Post that the driver owned the truck, managed his own deliveries and operated largely independently from his company.

'This was his very first trip,” Pyle said. 'It's a common thing in the trucking industry. ... He had my name on the side, and I pay for his insurance. He makes his own decisions, buys his own fuel.”

Pyle declined to name the driver, who he said was from Louisville, and said he had no idea what the man was transporting.