Driver charged over Texas truck migrant tragedy

The tractor-trailer driver of the migrant trafficking tragedy in Texas, resulting in death of 10 people, was charged with one count of "transporting illegal aliens" in a federal court on Monday.

A U.S. district court in San Andonio alleged that James Matthew Bradley Jr., 60, unlawfully transported undocumented immigrants in violation of law, resulting in the death of 10 of the people transported.

He will face up to life in prisonment or the death penalty under a law that allows enhanced penalties when immigrants die during smuggling operations.

Bradley will be held without bail until hearings Thursday morning.

Officials confirmed on Monday that one more person has died after over 30 people were found in a overheated tractor-trailer parked outside of a Walmart in San Antonio, making the death toll to 10.

Nine undocumented immigrants died after being trapped inside a tractor-trailer at a Walmart parking lot in the southern Texas city of San Antonio, officials confirmed Sunday afternoon.

The crime came to light when a man in the truck asked a Walmart employee for water. The employee brought water for the man and called the police.

Police were then called to the parking lot and found eight dead and 31 injured inside the trailer. A ninth victim died in the hospital and several people are still in critical condition at local hospitals.

San Antonio fire chief Charles Hood said the people were in the trailer without any type of liquid.

In the midsummer heat of Texas, where a temperature of 38 degrees centigrade scorched San Antonio on Saturday, and the trailer did not have a working air conditioning system, said Hood.

San Antonio is a U.S. city close to the border area with Mexico. Border patrol agents have reported an increase in smuggling attempts in tractor-trailers in recent weeks.