Migrant trailer survivor says ‘they couldn’t breathe’ and her friend’s advice saved her

• Survivor of the migrant trailer found in San Antonio tells her story.
• She says «they couldn’t breathe» inside the trailer.
• Yenifer Yulisa Cardona declared that her friend saved her life.

SHE WAS SAVED BY HER FRIEND’S ADVICE! A survivor who was traveling with more than 50 migrants who died in the trailer that was abandoned in San Antonio, Texas, recounted the panic she experienced when she was inside the trailer with no air conditioning despite the searing temperatures.

The young woman stated that she believes that she was saved by her friend’s advice, since the friend told her to stay close to the door because «it would be cooler» there. She followed her friend’s advice, telling an acquaintance to also stay close to the door. They both survived. Her family declared that «it was a miracle» that she was found alive.

MIGRANT TRAILER SURVIVOR TELLS HER STORY

After it became known that 53 people had lost their lives while being transported illegally in a trailer that was abandoned in San Antonio, Texas, one of the survivors gave statements about what she experienced inside the trailer and the terror that the migrants went through due to the suffocating heat inside the vehicle.

On the advice of a friend, she decided to stay near the door of the semi-trailer and that saved Yenifer Yulisa Cardona Tomás from suffering the same fate as the 53 other migrants who died when the truck was abandoned last week on the outskirts of San Antonio, according to The Associated Press.

Did they take her phone away?

Yenifer Yulisa Cardona, a 20-year-old from the Guatemalan capital, said in a phone interview on Monday from her hospital bed that on June 27 she left the warehouse that was on the Texas side of the border with Mexico, where she had been waiting, and climbed into the back of the trailer, The Associated Press reported.

Among the details that she revealed from the hospital, she said that the «coyotes» or «polleros» as they are known, confiscated their cell phones and covered the floor of the trailer with what she believes was powdered chicken broth, ostensibly to fool any dogs they might encounter at checkpoints. Sitting inside the stifling trailer with dozens of other people, the powder irritated her skin.

Did her friend’s advice save her life?

The young woman said that, thanks to the advice of one of her friends, she managed to survive that day in the abandoned trailer. Her friend had told her to stay near the door and avoid being in the back. She reported that she repeated that piece of advice to a friend that she made during the journey and they both stayed near the door of the trailer.

«I told a friend that we shouldn’t go to the back and we should stay near (the entrance), in the same place, without moving,» said Yenifer Yulisa Cardona Tomás, who is being treated at the Metropolitan Methodist Hospital in San Antonio. That friend also survived the harsh conditions inside the trailer, according to the AP.

‘They couldn’t breathe’

One of the details that she revealed about the tragic day was that the truck made several stops where more migrants were boarded and she lost track of time. The young woman declared that the trip was becoming more and more difficult as they went on due to the intense heat which was preventing them from breathing.

“People were screaming, some were crying. Most of the women asked to stop and open the doors because it was hot, they couldn’t breathe. People were asking for water, some had run out, others had some,” Yenifer told the news outlet, still struggling a bit to speak after being intubated at the hospital. Filed Under: Survivor Trailer Texas Testimony

A miracle?

Yenifer’s parents told The Associated Press that their daughter had never told them that she was going to travel by trailer, rather she was supposed to be going on foot. Everything seems to indicate that, at the last minute, the «coyotes» decided to change the means in which they would travel and opted for the trailer. The family says that it was a miracle to learn that she was alive, since they were already planning the funeral of the young woman after her disappearance.

“I didn’t know that she was going to travel in a trailer. She told us that she was going to walk. It seems that at the last minute the smugglers decided to put her in the trailer, along with two other friends, who survived. We cry a lot. We were even thinking about where we were going to hold the wake and bury her. She’s a miracle,” declared her father to the Associated Press. Filed Under: Survivor Trailer Texas Testimony