Alleged truck driver posed as victim after Texas migrant deaths

US: The suspected driver of a truck packed with dozens of migrants who died in sweltering heat during a smuggling attempt in Texas this week was charged in US federal court yesterday with a single count of migrant smuggling resulting in death.

Homero Zamorano Jr, 45, a Texas native, was arrested on Monday near the scene of the incident after he tried to pose as a survivor of the tragedy, which left 53 migrants dead and ranks as the greatest loss of life ever from a single human trafficking incident in the United States.

If convicted, he could face a maximum sentence of life in prison or possibly the death penalty, the US Justice Department said in announcing the charges. The tractor-trailor truck packed with migrants from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador was discovered abandoned on Monday in a desolate, industrial area near a highway on the outskirts of San Antonio, Texas, about 160 miles (250km) north of the US-Mexico border.

Officials described finding the rear door to the trailer ajar with “stacks of bodies” inside, many of them hot to the touch. Other victims were discovered on the ground nearby. It was not made clear from official accounts how the door opened. – THE MALAY MAIL