Sunday, March 18, 2007
Immigrants' journey took a deadly turn - L.A. Times
When a truck driver agreed to smuggle them past a Texas checkpoint, he had no idea he would usher 19 to their deaths.
...Williams' refrigerator on wheels had become a convection oven, with the passengers' own bodies acting as individual furnaces. ... Moreover, with each breath they drew, they were cutting into a finite supply of oxygen, replacing it with the poisonous carbon dioxide they exhaled.
Jose Juan Roldan-Castro, a 26-year-old from Puebla, Mexico, who was headed to Iowa to join his brother, was the first to act. He swam through the mass of people until he reached the doors. He ran his hands along the edges, looking for tears in the insulating fabric. He gained a purchase and pulled at the foamlike material, tearing away a piece to expose the bracket of a taillight. He punched at the bracket with his bare hands."You don't care about pain," he recalled in court. He managed to knock out the light, leaving it to dangle on a cord. This created a hole about the size of a fist. Not much air came through, but by pressing his face close, Roldan-Castro received a bit of relief. Passengers became angry with him. Somebody struck him. ...
When a truck driver agreed to smuggle them past a Texas checkpoint, he had no idea he would usher 19 to their deaths.
...Williams' refrigerator on wheels had become a convection oven, with the passengers' own bodies acting as individual furnaces. ... Moreover, with each breath they drew, they were cutting into a finite supply of oxygen, replacing it with the poisonous carbon dioxide they exhaled.
Jose Juan Roldan-Castro, a 26-year-old from Puebla, Mexico, who was headed to Iowa to join his brother, was the first to act. He swam through the mass of people until he reached the doors. He ran his hands along the edges, looking for tears in the insulating fabric. He gained a purchase and pulled at the foamlike material, tearing away a piece to expose the bracket of a taillight. He punched at the bracket with his bare hands."You don't care about pain," he recalled in court. He managed to knock out the light, leaving it to dangle on a cord. This created a hole about the size of a fist. Not much air came through, but by pressing his face close, Roldan-Castro received a bit of relief. Passengers became angry with him. Somebody struck him. ...
Labels: suffering
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