Heat stroke is suspected among 6 found dead in a shipping container at a
rail yard near Texas border
[May 12, 2026]
By VALERIE GONZALEZ and JOSH FUNK
Federal agents are investigating the deaths of six people thought to be
immigrants found inside a shipping container at a Union Pacific rail
yard near the border with Mexico in Laredo, Texas, on Sunday as a
"potential human smuggling event."
A Union Pacific employee found the bodies of six people inside a
shipping container Sunday afternoon, said Jose Baeza, the Laredo Police
Department public information officer.
Dr. Corinne Stern, the Webb County medical examiner, is conducting
autopsies and completed one for a 29-year-old Mexican woman who died of
hyperthermia, or heat stroke.
“I’ve ruled that an accidental death,” she said, adding that she
believes the others also died from heat stroke but could not rule on
their cause of death until she completes their autopsies.
Stern estimates it took up to eight hours for the people to succumb to
illness.
“Based on my examination on the scene and what I know of from the
investigation, I really believe they were dead in less than eight
hours,” Stern said.
Stern found identification cards and cellphones that indicate the
deceased may be from Mexico and Honduras, but fingerprints were taken
and shared with U.S. Border Patrol to help confirm their identities and
nationalities through the Missing Alien Program.
The medical examiner’s office also contacted the Mexican consulate after
identifying the woman.
Homeland Security Investigations said in a statement that it is
“actively investigating this case as a potential human smuggling event
with assistance from the Laredo Police Department and Texas Rangers.”
“This was a horrific scene,” Stern said, also noting that immigrant
deaths are a common occurrence in the 10-county region her office
covers. “This spring has been busier than it was this time last year,”
the medical examiner said, referencing the number of migrant deaths
recorded by her office last year.
Border encounters dropped toward the end of the Biden administration and
reached record low numbers under the second Trump administration. About
40 people were encountered daily in March crossing illegally by Border
Patrol agents in Laredo, making it the third busiest sector among nine
along the southern border, according to the agency's statistics.
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In this image taken from video footage provided by KGNS, Union
Pacific train cars are stationed at a rail yard in Laredo, Texas,
Sunday, May 10, 2026. (KGNS via AP)
The travel history of the shipping container was not known, and the
criminal investigation has not yet determined why the people who
died did not climb out of the shipping container.
“Union Pacific is saddened by this incident and is working closely
with law enforcement to investigate,” the rail company said in a
statement.
Laredo is a busy land port of entry for trade on the U.S.-Mexico
border and a common nexus for the illegal movement of people.
Last year, two smugglers were sentenced to life in prison for what
remains the nation’s deadliest human smuggling attempt across the
U.S.-Mexico border. They were convicted in connection with the
deaths of 53 migrants found in the back of a sweltering
tractor-trailer in Texas in 2022.
Smuggling on trains crossing the border has long been a concern
partly because trains headed to the United States often slow or stop
in Mexico before crossing the border. That creates an opportunity
for smugglers or immigrants to climb aboard or hide drugs or other
contraband on a train before it crosses into America.
Union Pacific has worked with authorities for years to address drug
smuggling and trespassers trying to cross the border on trains. As
part of that effort, the railroad has installed inspection portals
that scan the trains and take pictures to help spot any
abnormalities that would suggest contraband or immigrants aboard the
train.
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