Pickup Truck Carrying Illegal Immigrants Crashes In Texas, Killing 14

[News_Editor]

Pickup truck carrying illegal immigrants crashes in Texas, killing 14 < br />

2012-07-24 01:17:23 GMT+7 (ICT)

BERCLAIR, TEXAS (BNO NEWS) -- A pickup truck carrying illegal immigrants veered off a highway in southern Texas late Sunday and slammed into trees, killing fourteen people and injuring nine others, authorities said. The victims are from Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico.

The accident happened at about 6:30 p.m. local time on Sunday when the white 2000 Ford F-250 Super Duty extended cab pickup ran off U.S. Route 59 near the unincorporated community of Berclair and crashed into two large trees. The pickup truck was overloaded, carrying a total of 23 people inside and in the bed of the vehicle.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) spokesman Gregory Palmore said fourteen people were killed while nine others remain hospitalized in San Antonio, Victoria, and Corpus Christi. He identified the deceased as eleven males and three females of whom two are juveniles. They were all from Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico.

Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) spokesman Tom Vinger said its District Crash Reconstruction Team is investigating whether tire failure may have been a cause of the wreck. He said the agency is working to identify the victims but said no names could be released as of Monday afternoon.

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