Poll of the Day > Over 40 found dead in semi truck in San Antonio

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/twenty-people-found-dead-truck-san-antonio-local-media-report-2022-06-28/

Horrible way to die

Jesus Christ that's ghastly.

Jesus christ

RIP

They dont even say how this happened?

Where was the driver? How did the refrigeration stop working?

deoxxys posted...

Where was the driver? How did the refrigeration stop working?

If you turn off the engine to the tractor, then there is no power to the refrigeration unit, so if the driver took a long lunch and spent a couple of hours at the tiddy bar...

Well, you get the picture.

KodyKeir posted...

If you turn off the engine to the tractor, then there is no power to the refrigeration unit, so if the driver took a long lunch and spent a couple of hours at the tiddy bar...

Well, you get the picture.

Article states it wasn't a working unit.

I don't understand why these vehicles do not have some emergency way to get out in the event that someone gets stuck inside them. I've always found that incredibly bizarre.

If its in Texas, what are the chances this happened on purpose?

FrozenBananas posted...

If its in Texas, what are the chances this happened on purpose?

No way its on purpose. Kinda hard to run a smuggling business and have a truck load of your customers plastered all over the news being found dead.

Its most likely a case of one or more people dying due to the hear and the smugglers cutting ties because they didn't wanna be responsible for a body or more.

KodyKeir posted...

If you turn off the engine to the tractor, then there is no power to the refrigeration unit

False. Refrigerated trailers have their own separate power and fuel source.

Far-Queue posted...

Refrigerated trailers have their own separate power and fuel source.

Well that's new, (to me at least) last time I unloaded a refrigerated trailer, the driver had to keep the tractor running as it would cut power to trailer if he turned off the engine.

But maybe that says more about how long it's been since I worked a dock.

hypnox posted...

No way its on purpose. Kinda hard to run a smuggling business and have a truck load of your customers plastered all over the news being found dead.

Do you really think the victims have access to news? For that matter, do you think the smugglers aren't asking for money upfront so that they still get paid when something like this happens?

If someone is willing to be packed in a trailer for hours on end just to escape whatever situation they are in, it is highly likely they don't even have access to basic necessities like food, water, and shelter let alone news. That is what the smugglers are taking advantage of.

KodyKeir posted...

Well that's new, (to me at least) last time I unloaded a refrigerated trailer, the driver had to keep the tractor running as it would cut power to trailer if he turned off the engine.

But maybe that says more about how long it's been since I worked a dock.

I suppose it's possible, but I've never seen a refrigerated trailer that needed a tractor to run. Unless you're referring to those box trucks.

I haven't driven a refrigerated unit in about 9 years but drove them almost exclusively for several years before that. We always had Thermo-King units attached directly to the front of the trailer, with a fuel tank underneath the trailer. You could disconnect the truck and trailer and keep the thermo unit running as long as it had fuel.

We had box trucks that worked similarly but were tied into the same fuel tank as the trucks, so we could run those while the trucks were off, too.

But I'll admit there's a plethora of different styles of refrigerated trucks and I've only driven a few kinds of them. Quite possible there are some that require the truck to remain running but I would think those are more rare, as states like California have idle laws for trucks.