• As IMF downgrades US and UK growth

Police in the US state of Texas have arrested a truck driver whose vehicle was found in a Walmart car park with dozens of people in the back of it.

Nine men had died inside, and 28 others, including children, were taken to hospital.

They were inside the trailer in San Antonio without access to air conditioning or water while outside temperatures hit 38C (110F).

Police say they believe the incident is linked to people smuggling.

Video footage from the store reportedly showed a number of vehicles arriving to pick up some of the survivors. Several others may have managed to escape on foot into the woods nearby.

But San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg told the BBC that caring for the victims was the authorities’ first aim.

“Our most important focus right now is to deliver compassionate care,” he said.

“You know our first responders immediately were on the scene, delivering first aid, transporting – sometimes by air – critical condition patients to local hospitals, and trying to prevent more loss of life than what had already occurred.”

“We are working with authorities, we are working with… witnesses to understand the magnitude of these crimes.

“But in this case, where we are witnesses to a human tragedy in our city, our first response and our response as local officials is to render aid.”

Eight people were found to be dead at the scene while another died in hospital, immigration officials said.

San Antonio is a few hours’ drive from the border with Mexico, and the US immigration department is trying to establish the victims’ legal status.

Officials were brought to the trailer by a man who had approached an employee of the Walmart and asked for water.

The driver would be charged in connection with the “horrible tragedy”, said San Antonio police chief William McManus in a press briefing.

He said the people ranged from school age to in their 30s.

“We’re looking at a human trafficking crime this evening,” Mr McManus added.

Local fire chief Charles Hood said the survivors had heart rates of over 130 beats per minute and were very hot to touch. In addition to the 20 people in a critical condition, eight others were taken to hospital in a less severe state.

The fire chief confirmed at least two of the victims were school-age children. Their condition is not clear.

In the meantime, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has lowered its forecasts for US and UK economic growth this year, following “weaker-than-expected activity” in the first three months.

The IMF says it now expects the UK to grow by 1.7% this year, compared with the 2% it was previously forecasting.

The US will now grow 2.1%, as against the 2.3% it was predicting in April.

Its prediction that the global economy will grow by 3.5% in 2017, and 3.6% in 2018, is unchanged.

In its latest World Economic Outlook, the IMF said the “pick-up in global growth” that it had anticipated in its previous survey in April “remains on track”.

However, it added: “The unchanged global growth projections mask somewhat different contributions at the country level.”

A UK Treasury spokesperson said the IMF forecast underlined why the government’s plans to increase productivity and get “the very best deal with the EU” after Brexit were “vitally important”.

“Employment is at a record high and the deficit is down by three quarters, showing that the fundamentals of our economy are strong,” they added.

The UK growth forecast for 2018 remains unchanged at 1.5%, but US growth for next year is now predicted to come in at 2.1%, instead of the 2.5% previously forecast.

“While the markdown in the [US] 2017 forecast reflects in part the weak growth outturn in the first quarter of the year, the major factor behind the growth revision, especially for 2018, is the assumption that fiscal policy will be less expansionary than previously assumed, given the uncertainty about the timing and nature of US fiscal policy changes,” the IMF said.

“Market expectations of fiscal stimulus have also receded.”

BBC