Photo: Eric Gay/AP/Shutterstock
Over a week has passed since dozens of migrants were found dead or near death inside a blazing hottractor-trailer that had been abandonedin southwest San Antonio.
For Archbishop Gustavo García-Siller, who leads the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Antonio, the nightmare that claimed the lives of 53 people—now regarded as the deadliesthuman smuggling tragedyin U.S. history—is far from over.
“It’s insane,” García-Siller, who has made repeated visits to local hospitals, tells PEOPLE. “It’s just difficult to comprehend the pain and the sorrow.”
In the days since the 40 male and 13 female victims were discovered in the locked and abandonedtruck on June 27, the archbishop has spent countless hours sitting in hospital rooms, listening as survivors recount the hellish conditions they endured for hours inside the trailer.
“One man described how everybody felt like their bodies were on a stove burning,” says García-Siller, his voice heavy with emotion. “Their clothes were soaked with sweat and people were crying, ‘My skin is burning.’ "
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Eric Gay/AP/Shutterstock
“Towards the end he recalled how everybody turned toward the center of the trailer and they just prayed. They had holy cards, rosaries and Bibles and they kept praying while they struggled to breathe,” the archbishop says, continuing the account of one of the survivors.
During his visits, the archbishop says many of the survivors were connected to an array of life-support equipment and fighting for their lives.
On one of his visits, he met a young man who described the emotional phone call he’d just had with his mother, who was overcome with emotion upon hearing her son’s weak voice and learning he had survived.
“My two cousins died and I’m so very sad for them, along with all my companions in the trailer,” García-Siller says the man told him during their conversation. “But I am alive.”
Shortly after speaking with PEOPLE, the archbishop says he has plans to go celebrate the birthday of one of the survivors. And the next morning he will wake up and do the same thing he’s done since he first learned about the tragedy. “I will go tomorrow and be with them,” he says, “to listen, to be as present and to be as loving as possible.”
source: people.com
