Fifteen die in southern California crash near Mexico border

At least 15 people have died and more were injured after an SUV collided with a trailer truck in southern California, near the US-Mexico border.

Twenty-seven people were thought to have been travelling in the SUV, which would legally have had a capacity for eight or nine.

Police say the vehicle drove directly into the path of the truck, which had a full load of gravel.

The truck's driver suffered minor injuries.

Fire officials said they were called to an incident in Imperial - about 11 miles (18km) north of the Mexico border and 100 miles east of San Diego - at 06:15 local time (14:15 GMT) on Tuesday.

Fourteen people died at the scene, and another later succumbed to their injuries in hospital.

A spokesman for Border Patrol, Macario Mora, told the Associated Press that the immigration status of the victims was being investigated.

He said they could be farmworkers involved in harvesting winter greens in the mainly agricultural area.