5 Dead In Texas After SUV Packed With Illegal Immigrants Crashes In High-Speed Chase
On Sunday, 5 individuals lost their lives in South Texas after an S.U.V. in which a dozen unauthorized immigrants were travelling crashed while attempting to speed away from Border Patrol agents and local officials.
The location of the accident was Dimmit County which is almost 125 miles southwest of San Antonio.
The pursuit started on Sunday around noon when the United States Border Patrol agents attempted to stop the driver of a black Chevrolet Suburban. The driver didn’t obey the command which forced the agents to chase.
4 individuals died at the accident spot while one was sent to a hospital where he died.
The individuals travelling in the vehicle were undocumented immigrants because officials found foreign passports on those who died. Some of them knew the language so they could answer questions.
The S.U.V turned over several times as it was travelling with the speed of almost 100 miles per hour and many passengers sustained injuries as they were thrown out of the vehicle.
2 citizens, including the person behind the wheel of the S.U.V and another who was a passenger, were attempting to smuggle 12 unauthorized immigrants. They both were from the US.
About the incident, the United States Customs and Border Protection said, “Our deepest sympathies go out to the families of those who died in the crash.”
The names of the dead were not made public by the authorities.
It is said that it is not rare for immigrants traveling into the United States illegally to be crowded into vehicles for transport and there are many cases in which many of them died near the border.
2 similar cases happened in the past. One was in 2015 when a driver with many immigrants tried to speed away and crashed the vehicle due to which 6 individuals lost their lives. The other incident happened in 2012, when a vehicle carrying immigrants veered off a highway and hit 2 trees due to which 14 of them died.
The Texas Department of Public Safety, the United States Border Patrol and other federal agencies are collaborating to investigate the case.