Mexican authorities have discovered 343 migrants and refugees, including 103 unaccompanied minors, in an abandoned freight truck container on the side of a highway in Mexico.
The National Immigration Institute (INM) said on Monday the trailer was found in the steamy Gulf coast state of Veracruz. It was on a route often used by smugglers to bring people from southeastern Mexico to the United States border.
The people were in good health and it was unclear why the driver fled, authorities said.
Most of the children were from Guatemala. Migrants who make it to the US frequently pay smugglers to bring their children afterwards.
The institute said the adults were mainly from Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Ecuador.
The children will be put into the custody of Veracruz’s family services system while the others will be processed to determine their legal status in Mexico, INM said.
