FILE PHOTO: Migrants walk up an overpass in a caravan heading to the northern border, in Tapanatepec, Mexico November 9, 2021. REUTERS/Jacob Garcia
Mexico City, Mexico — Mexican authorities said Monday that 103 minors traveling without adult relatives were among several hundred migrants found in a truck abandoned on a highway.
The minors, mostly from Guatemala, were part of a group of around 340 irregular migrants from Central and South America, the National Migration Institute said in a statement.
The vehicle, which had fans and ventilation, was located on Sunday night on a highway in the eastern state of Veracruz without a driver, it said.
The trailer part of the truck was modified so it had two floors to carry more people, the agency said.
Trucks are one of the most dangerous methods used by people smugglers transporting undocumented migrants through Mexico to the United States.
Last June, more than 50 migrants died after they were abandoned in a scorching hot tractor-trailer truck in San Antonio, Texas.
In December 2021, 56 US-bound migrants from Central America were killed and dozens injured when the truck they were traveling in overturned in southern Mexico.