Credit: Brooks County Sheriff's Office
Encino-TX-Deadly-Crash
Encino, TX (77WABC/AP) — Investigators say an overloaded van carrying 29 migrants has crashed on a remote South Texas highway, killing at least 10 people, including the driver, and injuring 20 others.
The crash happened Wednesday on U.S. 281 in Encino, about 50 miles north of McAllen.
#BREAKING: on the scene of an accident that happened at 4pm today north bound on 281 in Encino, Texas. 30 people in the van, 10 have been confirmed dead. #DPS believes they are undocumented immigrants. https://t.co/zwy9eDUqf3 pic.twitter.com/s9C8hiTbLP
— IriskaramiTV (@IriskaramiTV) August 5, 2021
Sgt. Nathan Brandley, a spokesman for the DPS, said the accident occurred around 4 p.m. when a passenger van carrying 24 people was traveling too fast on Highway 281 about 20 miles south of Falfurrias.
The driver hit a utility pole after taking a curve too fast and then rammed into a stop sign. Brandley said the vehicle was not involved in a pursuit.
The Texas Department of Public Safety says the van, designed to hold 15 passengers, was top-heavy, as it tried to take a curve.
The injured people were taken to Spohn Shoreline Hospital for treatment.
Brooks County Sheriff Urbino Martinez said the passengers were migrants.
An uptick in migrants attempting to cross the border has brought about a rise in the number of crashes involving vehicles often filled with people who pay large amounts to be smuggled into the country.
The crash comes months after 13 people were killed when an SUV packed with 25 migrants collided with a semi-truck in Holtville, California, near the US-Mexico border.
In another deadly crash in March, eight migrants were killed when their vehicle crashed into another truck while being pursued by police nearly 30 miles (50km) north of the border city of Del Rio, Texas. The driver faces a possible life sentence after pleading guilty to multiple federal charges.
