July 24 (UPI) — A federal grand jury in Texas indicted Friday an 11-person smuggling ring in connection with the deaths of seven migrants, including a 14-year-old child, whose bodies were discovered in May inside a sweltering shipping container, killed by heatstroke.

Federal prosecutors said the operation had been active since April 2023 and used train cars to smuggle migrants across the U.S.-Mexico border.

In one such crossing, on May 9, prosecutors say the alleged smugglers opened the container during a stop in San Antonio and discovered seven people “in peril.”

The container had no ventilation or cooling system, and temperatures that day reached 92 F.

“The smugglers then fled the scene, allegedly leaving one of the deceased aliens near the railroad tracks,” the U.S. Department of Justice said in a statement. “Smugglers left the remaining aliens in the shipping container. The next day, the train departed south along its route to Laredo.”

A Union Pacific worker at the rail yard in Laredo found a leg sticking out of the container, and alerted authorities of the deceased migrants.

The victims were four Mexican nationals and three Honduran nationals, including a 14-year-old child.

The 11 alleged smugglers face life in prison if convicted on charges of conspiracy to transport illegal aliens resulting in death, prosecutors said.

Authorities said they have nine of the 11 suspects arrested:

• Edson Alejandro Perez, 18, of Del Rio
• Jonas Ulloa-Aguilera, 25, of Honduras
• Mayra Alejandra Huerta, 32, of Del Rio
• Maria Norma Neri de Moran, 56, of Mexico
• Damian Huerta Analucas, 55, of Mexico
• Rosario Cristal Lopez-Saldana, 26, of Mexico
• Eric Hernandez, 40, of Eagle Pass, Texas
• Franklin Williams Ayala Aguilera, 30, of Honduras
• Pascual Raymundo Loarca, 34, of Guatemala

Two suspects remain at large:

• Karina Garcia, 37, of Del Rio, Texas
• Seferino Huerta-Casillas, 35, of Mexico