14 killed in single truck crash in Texas

In a photo provided by the Texas Department of Public Safety the wreckage of a pickup truck is seen after it crahed into trees in Goliad County, Texas, Sunday July 22, 2012. / AP Photo/Texas Department of Public Safety

(AP) McALLEN, Texas - A pickup truck overloaded with illegal immigrants veered off a highway and crashed into trees in rural South Texas, killing at least 14 people and leaving 9 injured, authorities said.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations agents were looking into the human smuggling aspect of the case. A Texas Department of Public Safety accident reconstruction team meanwhile investigated the cause of the Sunday evening crash in Goliad County, about 150 miles northeast of the border with Mexico.

ICE spokesman Greg Palmore said that among the 11 men and three females who died were citizens of Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras.

Gerald Bryant, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Public Safety, said at least 23 passengers were crammed inside the truck's cab and bed, including at least two young children whom he saw among the dead.

"This is the most people I've seen in any passenger vehicle, and I've been an officer for 38 years," Bryant said.

The driver was among the 11 found dead at the scene, Bryant said, adding that investigators were trying to confirm his name. Six of those who died in the crash were still inside the mangled vehicle when emergency crews arrived at the scene, Bryant said.

The white 2000 Ford F-250 pickup was heading north on U.S. 59 when it drove off the right side of the highway near the unincorporated community of Berclair and struck two large trees, Bryant said. Berclair is about 90 miles southeast of San Antonio.

The truck was registered in Houston to someone other than the driver, Bryant said.

A DPS accident reconstruction team was investigating the accident, but Bryant said it could be another week or two before it is concluded. U.S. ICE agents were working to confirm the identities of the victims and investigate the possibility that they had been smuggled into the United States.

It is not uncommon for human traffickers to try to maximize profits by over-loading vehicles with illegal immigrants as they move their loads north from the Texas-Mexico border. In April, nine Mexican immigrants died near the border when the teenage driver of their van crashed after fleeing Border Patrol. There were 18 people in that minivan.

Bryant told The Associated Press that several of the survivors had life-threatening injuries. He did not have their official conditions but described them as "very serious." The injured were taken to hospitals in San Antonio, Victoria and Corpus Christi.

A Goliad County sheriff's spokesman did not immediately return a message left by the AP.

[mksgirls]

Filthy stinking pig animals should stay in their own country.
They bring nothing but trouble here and nobody wants them in
this country.

[cab_351]

what a shocker,,but our fearless leader wants to disregard our immigration laws in the constitution!!

[DelawareBob]

If they would have stayed in their own country where they belonged, they would no doubt be alive today. What does it take to get our immigrtion laws enforced? How many illegal aliens have to die before we get our immigration laws enforced? How many?

[ronjula-2012]

well this will not have our government paying to have them deported.

[EmpireGeorge______--]

by audemus July 23, 2012 2:56 PM EDT

This is a later article Empire....kinda hard to accurately respond to something that wasn't mentioned until later....in a second post
_____________

Not true.....check the article again, see the area in blue, this is the original san antonio article, where they DO clearly state their ethnicity or country of origin.

So it was on the original CBS article, just many didn't go the next step to find out.

[EmpireGeorge______--]

you might be right....this website is chaotic anyway....anyway, I was just clarifying their origin/

[debbiedee58]

oh well who cares were not suppose be here anyway

[EmpireGeorge______--]

we should care....their country of origin, is secondary to the fact that these are human beings, that died tragically in an accident.

[EmpireGeorge______--]

by brosenfeld July 23, 2012 12:31 PM EDT
Where does it say that they're Mexican? Oh, wait, IT DOESN'T.

by brosenfeld July 23, 2012 12:31 PM EDT
Where does it say that they're Mexican? Oh, wait, IT DOESN'T.
________________

Officials said they were still working to identify the victims. The 11 men and three women killed were from Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Read more: http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/article/14-dead-in-Goliad-County-crash-3726682.php#ixzz21TB2I4Rt

[jbl3770]

for an update - the death toll is now 14 and counting - there were 11 in the cab and 12 in the back of the truck - all 11 in the cab were pronounced dead at the scene (if you saw the truck you would understand why). But for all those that are offended that people assumed that these were illegal immigrants - you obviously do not live in Texas or within a few hundred miles of the Mexico border because this is not an uncommon issue for those of us that do - for the record - they were all in fact illegals from Mexico, Honduras, etc...

[mbordercollieone]

In order to have a mobile society we dismiss with general indifference the death of 13 people in an auto accident, but we cry and shed tears of anguish when a nut job kills 12 people in a shooting. Is it me or is this country reached the tipping point. ROMNEY'S wife said "Obama is trying to kill my husband" rhetoric like that is insane. Yhe violent politically charged attitudes of our country and nuts. Agree to disagree but not to kill each other over it.

[rightofwrong]

The boat to France leaves at 3, be on it.

[brosenfeld]

And today's Darwin Award(s) go to....

[EmpireGeorge______--]

To you !!!! since Darwin's theories were about survival, not who dies....so you win !