Ten people killed and 13 injured after van carrying migrants ‘crashes while speeding’
Ten people have died and 13 others have been injured after a van carrying migrants crashed and flipped over on a highway in Texas.
The Ford van containing approximately 30 people was allegedly speeding when it careered off the road in Encino, shortly after 4pm on Wednesday afternoon.
The 15 passenger van hit a utility pole and struck a stop sign as it came off the road, according to a Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) spokesperson.
DPS sergeant Nathan Brandley said afterwards that most of the passengers were undocumented immigrants.
The authorities are now working with the Mexican Consulate to confirm identities of the passengers.
Medical helicopters transported the 13 injured passengers to trauma centers in the Rio Grande Valley.
Authorities have not identified the driver but confirmed that he died at the scene, Brooks County Sheriff Urbino Martinez told My RGV News.
The DPS has launched an investigation into exactly what happened and is working alongside the Brooks County Sheriff’s Office.
Encino, where the crash happened, is a small community of about 140 residents nearly two miles south of the Falfurrias Border Patrol three-lane traffic check point.
The US Customs and Border Patrol Agency attended the scene of the incident but is not involved in the investigation as authorities have not found evidence that the van had gone through the border checkpoint illegally.
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