JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: Eighteen suspected illegal immigrants are dead after they were locked in the back of a crowded 18-wheeler for the trip from Mexico into the United States. As many as 70 people are believed to have been inside that tractor-trailer, which is now at a truck stop near Victoria, Texas. The driver of the truck is in police custody. With me now for the latest is reporter Andra Farthing. She's from CNN affiliate News 9 in Austin. Andra, can you bring us the latest from there?</s>ANDRA FARTHING, NEWS 9: Well, Judy, investigators have been out here since early this morning. The Victoria County sheriff's office received a call about 2:30 this morning saying that someone believed that a tractor-trailer in this area was carrying illegal immigrants. Now the trailer that you see behind me is the trailer where the immigrants were found. And it was parked at a truck stop just off Highway 77 in Victoria County. Now when sheriffs deputies arrived, they found 17 people dead, most of them still inside the trailer. Twelve people were taken to the hospital and one of those has since died, bringing the total dead to 18. One has been released and 10 remain hospitalized with symptoms related to heat exhaustion. But those that are still in the hospital are expected to survive. Now authorities have 19 of the illegal immigrants in custody. They are being questioned and treated at the Victoria Community Center. Authorities believe there were about 50 to 60 people in the trailer, and that means authorities are still looking for 20 to 30 people who may be in need of medical care. Now Highway 77 is a highly traveled roadway between here and Mexico. So it's no surprise that they were traveling along this roadway. But the sheriff here in Victoria County says he has never seen anything like this before. Now the man who was driving the rig unhooked the trailer from the truck and took off, but Houston officials believe they now have that man in custody.</s>WOODRUFF: All right. Andra Farthing with News 9 in Austin, thank you very much. Just a terrible strategy. Eighteen suspected illegal immigrants are dead. Andra, thank you very much. We appreciate that.
Eighteen Suspected Illegal Immigrants Dead