18 IMMIGRANTS DEAD-PART
1
by T.C. Baker
Staff Photographer
Victoria Advocate
Victoria, TX
You've
heard the phrase 'big news travels fast in a small town.'
Well, international news travels faster. "18 Immigrants Dead," read
the headlines
around the world Thursday, May 15, 2003. |
Law
enforcement officials cross a fence behind the scene
where numerous
bodies were found in a tractor trailer on Fleming Prairie
Rd. in south
Victoria County. The officials were looking for more survivors
that had fled
the scene.
© Victoria
Advocate Staff Photographer T.C. Baker |
|
It
has been a week since the tragic event happened and my thoughts
are still
jumping from one point to another with no direction nor clarity.
So with
that, I'll just share some photos.
Officials
direct a victim to a county transport vehicle at the
scene where
numerous bodies were found in and around a tractor trailer
on Fleming
Prairie Rd. in south Victoria County.
© Victoria
Advocate Staff Photographer
T.C. Baker |
|
Officials
talk to victims inside an ambulance at the scene where
numerous bodies were found in and around a tractor trailer
on Fleming
Prairie Rd. in
south Victoria County. Nineteen people died after being
locked in a
refrigerated trailer in Harlingen, TX in route to Houston.
© Victoria
Advocate
Staff Photographer T.C. Baker |
|
Law enforcement
officials use a video camera to document the scene as two
victims' bodies lie on the ground outside of the truck.
© Victoria
Advocate
Staff Photographer T.C. Baker |
Law enforcement officials use a video camera to document the
scene where
numerous bodies were found in a tractor trailer on Fleming
Prairie Road in
south Victoria County. The markings on the door of the
trailer were thought
to have been made by the victims inside literally trying
to claw their way
out for fresh air.
©
Victoria Advocate Staff Photographer T.C. Baker |
|
Law enforcement
officials use a video camera to document the scene where
numerous bodies were found in and around a tractor trailer
on Fleming
Prairie Rd. in south Victoria County.
©Victoria
Advocate Staff Photographer
T.C. Baker |
|
Francisca Barrios
pauses at the Victoria Community Center shortly before
finding out 2 of her cousins were among the deceased found in
a trailer just
outside Victoria, Texas.
© Victoria
Advocate Staff Photographer T.C. Baker |
Silverio Gamez
sits with his daughter Pricilla as she colors in a coloring
book while they wait to hear about Gamez's son who was being
detained as a
witness. Gamez's was one of the 70+ immigrants in the trailer
in which 17
died May 14, 2003. Two other immigrants died later at a local
hospital.
© Victoria Advocate Staff Photographer T.C. Baker
|
A
wreath of carnations placed at the scene where 17 people died in
the back of a tractor trailer found on Fleming Prairie Road early
Tuesday morning sits in the foreground as Jesse Porras goes about
his daily job of picking up litter around Speedy Stop on US 77
south of Victoria. Two other
immigrants died later at a local hospital. The wreath was placed along a fence
where the trailer had been left filled with immigrants from Central America.
© Victoria
Advocate Staff Photographer T.C. Baker |
18 Immigrants Dead - Part 2
With such a big
story happening it is interesting when the 'pack' comes to
town.
 |
A
mob of reporters and photographers surround a member of the Mexican
Consulate during a press conference.
© Photo by
T.C. Baker |
 |
San Antonio Express-News
photographer Ed Ornelas takes a quick break from
taking pictures of Pricilla Gamez to look at her coloring book.
Gamez was
waiting with her parents to hear if her older brother was OK
after he
escaped the deadly immigrant trailer ordeal.
© Photo by T.C.
Baker |
 |
Photographers
peer through long lenses at the scene where 17 immigrants
died
in a tractor trailer parked on the side of the road.
© Photo
by T.C. Baker |
 |
A photographer
helps a reporter with her wireless microphone as she talks
with someone back at the station. The team was preparing for
a noon live
shot.
© Photo
by T.C. Baker |
 |
Photographers
stay outside crime scene tape as reporters sit on the ground
in front of Victoria County Sheriff Mike Ratcliff.
© Photo
by T.C. Baker |
by T.C. Baker
Staff Photographer
Victoria Advocate
Victoria, TX
(361) 580-6584
http://www.victoriaadvocate.com
mailto:tcbaker@vicad.com
T.C. Baker also
serves as the new NPPA National Secretary. T.C. can be reached
by E-mail at tcbaker@vicad.com.
Timothy
C. "T.C." Baker
NPPA National Secretary
http://www.nppa.org
NPPA Region 8 Webmaster
http://www.nppa8.org
mailto:webmaster@nppa8.org
|
