The police arrived at the scene after a report from a railway employee who found bodies inside the wagon. The services have not yet established the identity of the victims – neither their age, gender, nor the circumstances in which they got into the wagon.
Jose Baez of the Laredo Police Department emphasized that this information is crucial to the investigation.
Difficulties in identifying victims from Laredo
Investigators are conducting an early investigation and have not said who the victims are or what the cause of death may have been. Baez pointed out that the railway terminal where the worker found the wagon stretches for many kilometers. This further complicates the officers' work.
Investigators' work was hampered by the heat – on Sunday, thermometers in Laredo showed about 36 degrees Celsius. Local television station KENS 5 estimated that it could have been as high as 38 degrees Celsius inside the closed wagon.. Rescuers and investigators operated in extremely difficult conditions.
Carrier Union Pacific said in a statement quoted by NBC News that it was saddened by the incident and was cooperating with law enforcement. Investigators handed the bodies over to the medical examiner to determine the cause of death. Authorities said further information will be made public as it becomes available.
