New York.– A Texas man was sentenced yesterday to more than 14 years in prison for his role in what became the deadliest human smuggling attempt in US history.

Abelardo Flores was part of a smuggling ring that packed more than 70 illegal immigrants into the back of a stifling lorry in May 2003 and tried to transport them from southern Texas to Houston, prosecutors said.

The immigrants, from Mexico, Honduras, El Salvador and the Dominican Republic, were found after the driver, whom Flores had recruited, abandoned the lorry at a truck stop in Victoria, about 100 miles south-west of Houston.

Seventeen people were found dead in the lorry, and two others died later, all of dehydration, overheating and suffocation.

Erik Sunde, Flores' attorney, said his client, before being sentenced, acknowledged what he had done. "He expressed deep remorse for the loss of life in the case and in open court he apologised to the families, one by one, of the decedents," Sunde said.