SAN ANTONIO – Fifty-one people died in the tractor-trailer full of migrants found on the Southwest Side of San Antonio on Monday evening, and 16 people survived the horror long enough to make it to five area hospitals.
Three out of the five people sent to Baptist Hospital died from their injuries. However, at University Hospital, a 23-year-old survivor made great progress Tuesday.
At a press conference Tuesday afternoon, Bexar County Precinct 1 Commissioner Rebeca Clay-Flores said she spoke with the young woman in her hospital room.
“She was intubated earlier, and it was taken out, and she was able to talk,” Clay-Flores said.
The woman first said that she wanted to talk to her mother, who was still in Guatemala.
Clay-Flores was in contact with the Guatemalan Consulate, where staff members were able to get in touch with her mother to report that her daughter was alive and recovering.
“This afternoon, finding that her mother has information about her, in such a sad day, that actually gave me something to smile about,” Clay-Flores said.
However, that family’s worry is not over.
“Sadly, I also asked her if she was traveling alone or not. She was traveling with her brother. We don’t have information on her brother. She obviously wants to find out about that,” Clay-Flores said.
The commissioner also confirmed there were immigration officers present at University Hospital.
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