2012 — July 22, Pickup Truck with 23 illegals crashes, US Hwy. 59 ~Goliad, TX– 14
–14 AP. “Authorities trying to identify 14 immigrants killed…Texas pickup…crash.” 7-23-12
–14 NYT. “14 Illegal Immigrants Are Killed When Pickup Truck Crashes in Texas.” 7-23-2012
–14 Stableford, Dylan. “14 dead in horrific Texas pickup truck crash.” Yahoo News, 7-23-2012.
AP: “McAllen, Texas – With little more than photographs and fingerprints, authorities were trying to identify 14 immigrants who were killed when a pickup truck packed with nearly two dozen people crashed in South Texas in one of the nation’s deadliest immigrant smuggling accidents.
“The victims — men, women and children — were carrying toothbrushes, toothpaste and changes of socks and underwear but no identification. Authorities said the white Ford F250 was carrying 23 immigrants from Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala when it veered off a highway and crashed into trees Sunday night.
“”It’s the worst single-vehicle wreck I’ve worked in my 40 years in the funeral business,” said Adrian Fulton, a local funeral home director who picked up the 11 people who died at the scene. Fulton estimated their ages from 8 to 30, and he said Homeland Security Investigations agents came Monday to photograph and fingerprint the dead.
“Federal immigration agents are looking into the human smuggling aspect of the case, while public safety authorities are investigating the cause of the crash in Goliad County, about 150 miles northeast of the Mexican border. The crash scene is less than an hour’s drive from the site of the nation’s most deadly immigrant smuggling case, where 19 immigrants died in 2003 after being placed in a sweltering trailer.”
“Six of those who died in Sunday’s crash were still inside the cab of the mangled vehicle and one was in the truck’s bed when emergency crews arrived at the scene, said Texas Department of Public Safety spokesman Gerald Bryant. Others were scattered on the roadway and in a ditch between the pavement and the fence line where the truck stopped. Bryant said he saw at least two young children among the dead. “This is the most people I’ve seen in any passenger vehicle, and I’ve been an officer for 38 years,” he said.
“It is not uncommon for human traffickers to try to maximize profits by over-loading vehicles with illegal immigrants as they head 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. In that case, six adults face a variety of federal charges and the 15-year-old driver was charged in state court with nine counts of murder.” (Associated Press. “Authorities trying to identify 14 immigrants killed in South Texas pickup truck crash.” 7-23-2012.)
NYT: “Goliad, Tex. — Fourteen illegal immigrants were killed Sunday outside this rural South Texas town after the pickup truck they were riding in veered off a highway and struck two trees, the authorities said.
“A total of 23 people, from Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico and all in the country illegally, had been crammed into the cab and the bed of the pickup truck when the driver lost control around 6:30 p.m. Sunday. The truck, a white 2000 Ford F-250 Super-Duty extended cab pickup, slammed into the trees on the side of the road off northbound U.S. Highway 59, about 10 miles southwest of Goliad, officials said.
“Eleven men, one woman and two young girls died. Nine others who were injured remain in local hospitals, state and federal authorities said.
“It was unclear why the driver veered off the road, but a spokesman for the Texas Department of Public Safety, the state’s top law enforcement agency, said a crash reconstruction team was investigating whether tire failure might have been a cause.
“The crash was one of the deadliest single-vehicle accidents in South Texas, where a series of crashes involving vehicles filled with illegal immigrants have claimed numerous lives in recent months and years.
“In April, a minivan crashed and rolled over near McAllen, killing nine people inside. The vehicle had been filled with 16 illegal immigrants, all of whom had been picked up from a so-called stash house and were being transported to their next destination when Border Patrol agents pulled it over.
“The smugglers of illegal immigrants often use the highways and roads to travel from the border to Houston, Dallas and other cities north, or to head from the border to a South Texas stash house — an apartment or rental home where they wait for the next leg of their journey….
“State officials said none of the 14 victims in the Goliad accident had been identified, and it was too early in the investigation to say where the truck was heading or where it had been coming from. The driver was among those who died.
“At the site of the crash, about 145 miles from the Mexican border, there are two northbound lanes of the highway and one southbound lane. Investigators marked the truck’s tire tracks with bright orange paint, highlighting its path as it veered from the northbound passing lane and down a ditch to the line of trees at the side of the road.
“When state troopers and sheriff’s deputies arrived at the scene Sunday evening, only six people were found in the truck; the rest had been ejected. “I’ve been here stationed in Victoria for 36 years, and this is one of the worst ones I’ve seen,” said Trooper Gerald Bryant, who works in the nearby Victoria office of the Department of Public Safety.
“By Monday afternoon, the truck had been removed from the base of the two thick trees, which were scuffed but still standing. The crash occurred on a straight stretch of highway in the daylight in dry weather….
“In the Customs and Border Protection’s Rio Grande Valley sector, which includes the site of the Goliad crash, more than 2,000 illegal immigrants were apprehended this fiscal year as of May in nearly 80 stash houses, up from 1,012 in 69 stash houses in all of the 2011 fiscal year.” (NYT. “14 Illegal Immigrants Are Killed When Pickup Truck Crashes in Texas.” 7-23-2012.)
Stableford: “A pickup truck carrying 23 people veered off a Texas highway and crashed late Sunday, killing 14 and injuring 9 others. The Ford F-250 Super Duty pickup was traveling north on U.S. Highway 59 when it crashed into two large trees near Goliad, Texas, about 100 miles southeast of San Antonio, Texas Highway Patrol trooper Gerald Bryant told KTRK-TV. “In my 38 years as an officer, this is one of the worst fatalities I have been to,” Bryant said. “I have never seen where we had that many in a vehicle”.”
“Some of the victims were airlifted to hospitals in San Antonio and Corpus Christi.
“The cause of the crash remains under investigation, police said. The victims were crammed in the cab and bed of the pickup truck. “Based on the mode of travel, the way that the people were in the vehicle, it’s a high probability there were illegal immigrants traveling northbound on 59,” Texas Dept. of Safety Lt. Glen Garrett told KIII-TV.
“According to CNN, U.S. border patrol and “immigration and customs enforcement agents were called to the scene.” Goliad County is about 150 miles northeast of the Mexican border.
“The names of the victims have yet to be released. According to MySanAntonio.com, the vehicle was registered to an owner in Houston. The driver of the vehicle was one of the survivors.
“”It is not uncommon for human traffickers to try to maximize profits by over-loading vehicles with illegal immigrants,” the Associated Press said. “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”.” (Stableford, Dylan. “14 dead in horrific Texas pickup truck crash.” Yahoo News, 7-23-2012.)
Sources
Associated Press. “Authorities trying to identify 14 immigrants killed in South Texas pickup truck crash.” 7-23-2012. Accessed 7-23-2012 at: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/authorities-identify-14-immigrants-killed-south-texas-pickup-truck-crash-article-1.1120487
New York Times. “14 Illegal Immigrants Are Killed When Pickup Truck Crashes in Texas.” 7-23-2012. Accessed 7-24-2012: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/24/us/14-illegal-immigrants-are-killed-when-pickup-truck-crashes-in-texas.html
Stableford, Dylan. “14 dead in horrific Texas pickup truck crash.” Yahoo News, 7-23-2012. Accessed 7-23-2012: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/pickup-truck-crash-texas-photo-144056003.html