Texas: An overloaded pickup truck carrying 29 migrants crashed into a remote South Texas highway on Wednesday, killing at least 10 people, including the driver, and injuring 20 others, authorities said.
The accident happened on Wednesday shortly after 16:00 on US 281 in Encino, Texas, about 80 kilometers north of McAllen.
Sers. Nathan Brandley of the Texas Department of Public Safety says the pickup, which is meant to carry 15 passengers, was traveling too fast when the driver wanted to drive off the freeway onto Business Route 281.
He lost control of the heavy wagon, which crashed into a metal pole and a stop sign.
The bakkie was not pursued, said the sheriff of the district, Urbino.
Martinez said he believes all passengers were migrants.
Brandley said the death toll was initially announced as 11, but was later revised. He also said that the twenty who survived the first accident sustained serious to critical injuries.
The identity of the 30 in the pickup is withheld until family members can be notified, Brandley said.
No information about the pickup, including where it was registered or who owned it, was released immediately.
Encino is a community of approximately 140 residents approximately 3.22 kilometers south of the Falfurrias Border Patrol Checkpoint.
An increase in migrants crossing the border illegally has led to an increase in the number of accidents involving vehicles trapped with migrants, who pay large sums to be smuggled into the country.
The Dallas Morning News reported that recruiting young drivers for the smuggling roads, combined with excessive speed and reckless driving by the young people, led to horrific accidents.
Victor M Manjarrez Jr., director of the Center for Law & amp; Human Behavior at the University of Texas at El Paso, told the newspaper criminal organizations recruit executives from Austin, Dallas and Houston. Others come from the El Paso area, while others come from parts of Latin America with police corruption.
“They are told, ‘If you get caught, you’ll be fine,'” he said.
They are selected from a group of migrants who are looking for a safe passage across the border to reduce their smuggling fees, Manjarrez said. They are told to follow a reconnaissance vehicle.
“It’s not bad for a few hours of work,” Manjarrez said.
One of the deadliest accidents occurred on March 3, when 13 people were killed when a pickup truck crashed into a sports utility vehicle carrying 25 migrants near Holtville, California, about 200 miles east of San Diego.
On March 17, eight migrants were killed when the pickup truck they were transporting crashed into another truck as they chased nearly 50 miles north of the border city of Del Rio, Texas.
The driver faces a possible life sentence after pleading guilty on May 24 to several federal charges. No sentence date has been set.
Source: Telangana Today