The six people found dead inside a Union Pacific boxcar in Laredo, Texas, on Sunday are believed to be illegal aliens from Mexico and Honduras.

According to the Laredo Police Department, a Union Pacific employee discovered at least six dead bodies in the cargo train car.

Temperatures soared into the upper 90s in Laredo, Texas, on Sunday.

Laredo, Texas, borders Mexico and has one of the largest ports of entry in the US.

The six people died of hyperthermia, or heat stroke.

The deaths are being investigated as part of a human smuggling operation.

ABC News reported:

Federal agents are investigating the deaths of six people thought to be immigrants found inside a shipping container at a Union Pacific rail yard near the border with Mexico in Laredo, Texas, on Sunday as a “potential human smuggling event.”

A Union Pacific employee found the bodies of six people inside a shipping container Sunday afternoon, said Jose Baeza, the Laredo Police Department public information officer.

Dr. Corinne Stern, the Webb County medical examiner, is conducting autopsies and completed one for a 29-year-old Mexican woman who died of hyperthermia, or heat stroke.

“I’ve ruled that an accidental death,” she said, adding that she believes the others also died from heat stroke but could not rule on their cause of death until she completes their autopsies.

Stern estimates it took up to eight hours for the people to succumb to illness.

“Based on my examination on the scene and what I know of from the investigation, I really believe they were dead in less than eight hours,” Stern said.

Stern found identification cards and cellphones that indicate the deceased may be from Mexico and Honduras, but fingerprints were taken and shared with U.S. Border Patrol to help confirm their identities and nationalities through the Missing Alien Program.

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